Tag: Long

Biden pledges an enormous federal response for ‘so long as it takes’

Post author By
Post date August 30, 2021

Dartanian Stovall looks at the house that collapsed with him inside during the peak of Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 30, 2021.

Michael DeMocker | USA TODAY network via Reuters

WASHINGTON – The federal government is doing everything in its power to help Louisiana and Mississippi rescue residents and recover from Hurricane Ida, President Joe Biden told the governors of those states on Monday.

“We’re here to help you get back on your feet,” said Biden during a virtual briefing at the White House with Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, Republican Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves and others.

The hurricane hit land on Sunday as a strong Category 4 storm that supplied electricity to up to 2 million people in Louisiana and Mississippi. By Monday morning, one death had already been attributed to the storm. Edwards told MSNBC that he expected that number to grow significantly.

The massive federal response to the storm reinforces one of the pillars of Biden’s stance toward the presidency: his belief that the government is uniquely equipped to mobilize aid for millions of people.

“The people of Louisiana and Mississippi are resilient, but at moments like these we can see the power of government to meet people’s needs and serve people when the government is ready to respond. That’s our job, ”said Biden.

Five thousand National Guardsmen have been deployed across the southeast, Biden said, and more than 25,000 electrical crews and linemen from 30 states are “rolling in to assist”.

To assess the damage to electrical lines, Biden said he directed the Federal Aviation Administration to work with electrical companies to deploy surveillance drones in the affected areas.

Biden also authorized the Defense and Homeland Security departments to provide satellite imagery that could help assess the damage.

To help more people access cellular services, Biden said the Federal Communications Commission will enter into a cooperative framework agreement between cellular operators so that people can use each company’s roaming services.

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Biden was attended the briefing by former Louisiana MP Cedric Richmond, who stepped down from the House of Representatives in January to join the Biden administration as director of the White House Public Relations Office.

The president directed the governors to contact Richmond directly if they needed anything from the White House.

Ida first hit land over Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 storm with winds of 250 mph, one of the strongest storms to hit the region since Hurricane Katrina, which hit the area 16 years ago to the day.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell was also on-screen at the White House meeting, as was Cynthia Lee Sheng, President of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

Reeves and Edwards both thanked Biden for signing pre-landing federal emergency letters for their states, freeing up federal funds and resources to respond to the emergency.

“We have all the help you will need,” said Biden. “We’ll stand by you and the people of the Gulf while it takes you to recover.”

Officials downgraded Ida to a tropical storm on Monday en route inland, where it was expected to bring heavy rainfall, tornadoes and the potential for severe flooding later this week as it migrates up the Tennessee Valley and into the mid-Atlantic.

Rainfall could be 24 inches across parts of southeast Louisiana to the extreme south of Mississippi.

This was Biden’s second meeting in four days with governors of the storm-hit states. On Friday he met virtually with Edwards, Reeve and GOP Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey.

Tags Biden, federal, Long, Pledges, Response, Takes, Vast

Health

Can the Vaccinated Develop Lengthy Covid After a Breakthrough An infection?

Post author By
Post date August 16, 2021

While some breakthrough cases in people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are inevitable, they are unlikely to result in hospitalization or death. But an important question about breakthrough infection remains unanswered: Can the vaccinated develop a so-called long covid?

Long Covid refers to a range of symptoms – such as severe fatigue, brain fog, headache, muscle aches, and trouble sleeping – that can last for weeks or months after the active infection has ended. The syndrome is little known, but studies suggest that between 10 and 30 percent of adults who contract the virus can have Covid for a long time, including those who had mild illness or no symptoms at all.

But the vast majority of the long-term data collected by Covid concerns the unvaccinated population. The risk of developing long-term Covid has not been studied in fully vaccinated people who become infected after vaccination.

While preliminary research suggests that it is indeed possible that a breakthrough case could lead to symptoms that could last weeks to months, there are still more questions than answers. What percentage of breakthrough cases result in persistent symptoms? How many of these people are recovering? Are the persistent symptoms after a breakthrough infection as severe as with the unvaccinated?

“I just don’t think there’s enough data,” said Dr. Zijian Chen, medical director of the Center for Post-Covid Care at Mount Sinai Health System in New York. “It’s too early to say that. The number of people who get sick after vaccination is not that high right now, and there is no good tracking mechanism for these patients. “

A study of Israeli health workers recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine offers insight into the risk of long-term Covid infection after a breakthrough infection. Of 1,497 fully vaccinated health care workers, 39 – approximately 2.6 percent – developed breakthrough infections. (All workers were thought to be infected after contact with an unvaccinated person, and the study was conducted before the delta variant became dominant.)

While most breakthrough cases were mild or asymptomatic, seven out of 36 workers observed after six weeks (19 percent) still had persistent symptoms. These long Covid symptoms included a mixture of persistent loss of smell, persistent cough, fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, or muscle pain.

However, the study’s authors caution against drawing too many conclusions from the research. The sample size – only seven patients – is small. And the research is designed to look at antibody levels in those infected, said Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, Director of the Department of Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases at Sheba Medical Center. It was not designed to study the risk of long-term Covid illness after a breakthrough infection.

“That was not the scope of this paper,” said Dr. Regev-Yochay. “I don’t think we have an answer to that.”

Still, the fact that one in five healthcare workers who had a breakthrough infection still had persistent symptoms after six weeks seems to be the first clue from a peer-reviewed study that long Covid is possible after a breakthrough infection.

Updated

Aug 16, 2021, 1:10 p.m. ET

“People said to me, ‘You are fully vaccinated. Why are you so careful? ‘”Said Dr. Robert M. Wachter, professor and chair of the medical school at the University of California at San Francisco. “I’m still in the camp that I don’t want to get Covid. I don’t want to get a breakthrough infection. “

Dr. Wachter said that despite the many limitations of the Israeli study, the data provides more evidence that those vaccinated should continue to take reasonable precautions to avoid the virus.

“I’ll take it at face value that one in five people continued to feel bad six weeks after a breakthrough,” said Dr. Guardian. “That’s enough to wear two masks when you go shopping in the supermarket, which isn’t that stressful anyway.”

Understand the state of vaccination and masking requirements in the United States

- Mask rules. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July recommended that all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public places indoors in areas with outbreaks, reversing the guidelines offered in May. See where the CDC guidelines would apply and where states have implemented their own mask guidelines. The battle over masks is controversial in some states, with some local leaders defying state bans.
- Vaccination regulations. . . and B.Factories. Private companies are increasingly demanding coronavirus vaccines for employees with different approaches. Such mandates are legally permissible and have been confirmed in legal challenges.
- College and Universities. More than 400 colleges and universities require a vaccination against Covid-19. Almost all of them are in states that voted for President Biden.
- schools. On August 11, California announced that teachers and staff at both public and private schools would have to get vaccinated or have regular tests, the first state in the nation to do so. A survey published in August found that many American parents of school-age children are against mandatory vaccines for students but are more likely to support masking requirements for students, teachers and staff who are not vaccinated.
- Hospitals and medical centers. Many hospitals and large health systems require their employees to have a Covid-19 vaccine, due to rising case numbers due to the Delta variant and persistently low vaccination rates in their communities, even within their workforce.
- new York. On August 3, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that workers and customers would be required to provide proof of vaccination when dining indoors, gyms, performances, and other indoor situations. City hospital staff must also be vaccinated or have weekly tests. Similar rules apply to employees in New York State.
- At the federal level. The Pentagon announced that it would make coronavirus vaccinations compulsory for the country’s 1.3 million active soldiers “by mid-September at the latest. President Biden announced that all civil federal employees would need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo regular tests, social distancing, mask requirements and travel restrictions.

Making breakthrough infection research difficult is the fact that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only track post-vaccination infections that result in hospitalization or death. While the CDC continues to study breakthrough infections in several large cohorts, the lack of data on all breakthrough cases remains a source of frustration among scientists and patient organizations.

“It is very frustrating not to have data at this point in the pandemic to know what will happen to breakthrough cases,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale School of Medicine who conducts studies on long-term Covid. “When a mild breakthrough infection turns into a long Covid, we don’t have that number under control.”

Diana Berrent, founder of Survivor Corps, a Facebook group for people affected by Covid-19 with approximately 171,000 members, conducted an informal survey and found 24 people who said they had persistent symptoms after a breakthrough infection. It is not a scientific sample and the cases have not been validated, but the survey shows that more data is needed on breakthrough cases, Ms Berrent said.

“You can’t extrapolate it to the general population, but it sends a very strong signal that the CDC must mandate coverage of every breakthrough case,” Ms. Berrent said. “We can’t know what we’re not counting.”

However, some experts predict that the surge in new cases caused by the spread of the Delta variant will unfortunately lead to more groundbreaking cases in the coming months. Dr. Chen of Mount Sinai said it would take several months to enroll patients with long covid due to a breakthrough infection.

“We are waiting for these patients to show up at our door,” said Dr. Chen.

Despite the lack of data, one thing is clear: vaccination reduces the risk of getting infected and developing Covid, Athena Akrami, a neuroscientist at University College London, said the data from nearly 4,000 long-term Covid patients developed after long Covid collected and released after a battle with Covid-19 in March 2020.

“It’s simple math,” said Dr. Akrami. “If you reduce infections, the likelihood of long-term Covid illnesses automatically decreases.”

Tags Breakthrough, Covid, Develop, infection, Long, Vaccinated

Health

Can the Vaccinated Develop Lengthy Covid After a Breakthrough An infection?

Post author By
Post date August 16, 2021

“That was not the scope of this paper,” said Dr. Regev-Yochay. “I don’t think we have an answer to that.”

Updated

Aug 16, 2021, 5:01 p.m. ET

“People said to me, ‘You are fully vaccinated. Why are you so careful? ‘”Said Dr. Robert M. Wachter, Professor and Chair of the Medical School, University California San Francisco. “I’m still in the camp that I don’t want to get Covid. I don’t want to get a breakthrough infection. “

Dr. Wachter said that despite the many limitations of the Israeli study, the data provides more evidence that those vaccinated should continue to take reasonable precautions to avoid the virus.

Understand the state of vaccination and masking requirements in the United States

- Mask rules. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July recommended that all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public places indoors in areas with outbreaks, reversing the guidelines offered in May. See where the CDC guidelines would apply and where states have implemented their own mask guidelines. The battle over masks is controversial in some states, with some local leaders defying state bans.
- Vaccination regulations. . . and B.Factories. Private companies are increasingly demanding coronavirus vaccines for employees with different approaches. Such mandates are legally permissible and have been confirmed in legal challenges.
- College and Universities. More than 400 colleges and universities require a vaccination against Covid-19. Almost all of them are in states that voted for President Biden.
- schools. On August 11, California announced that teachers and staff at both public and private schools would have to get vaccinated or have regular tests, the first state in the nation to do so. A survey published in August found that many American parents of school-age children are against mandatory vaccines for students but are more likely to support masking requirements for students, teachers and staff who are not vaccinated.
- Hospitals and medical centers. Many hospitals and large health systems require their employees to have a Covid-19 vaccine, due to rising case numbers due to the Delta variant and persistently low vaccination rates in their communities, even within their workforce.
- new York. On August 3, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that workers and customers would be required to provide proof of vaccination when dining indoors, gyms, performances, and other indoor situations. City hospital staff must also be vaccinated or have weekly tests. Similar rules apply to employees in New York State.
- At the federal level. The Pentagon announced that it would make coronavirus vaccinations compulsory for the country’s 1.3 million active soldiers “by mid-September at the latest. President Biden announced that all civil federal employees would need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or undergo regular tests, social distancing, mask requirements and travel restrictions.

“We are waiting for these patients to show up at our door,” said Dr. Chen.

“It’s simple math,” said Dr. Akrami. “If you reduce infections, the likelihood of long-term Covid illnesses automatically decreases.”

Tags Breakthrough, Covid, Develop, infection, Long, Vaccinated

Health

‘This Is Actually Scary’: Children Wrestle With Lengthy Covid

Post author By
Post date August 8, 2021

In class, Messiah, an honorary student, said, “my mind would kind of feel like it was going somewhere else.”

During an appointment in June at Children’s National that the Times watched, Dr. Abigail Bosk, a rheumatologist, said his fatigue after Covid is more debilitating than simple fatigue. His athleticism, she said, should help recovery, but “it’s really nothing that can be enforced.”

Dr. Yonts said the Messiah’s treatment plan, including physical therapy, is similar to a concussion. For the summer she recommended “giving your brain a break, but also slowly building up the stamina for learning and thinking”.

Messiah had at least two hobbies: playing the piano and writing poetry.

“I don’t want to float my boat, but I feel like I’m a pretty good writer,” he said. “I can still write. Sometimes I just have to think harder than I normally had to. “

An agonizing cycle

Sometimes Miya Walker feels like the old me. However, after about four to six weeks, extreme tiredness and difficulty concentrating reappear.

This roller coaster lasted over a year. When she became infected with Covid in June 2020, Miya was 14 years old from Crofton, Maryland. She will be 16 years old at the end of August.

Every time “we thought it would be over,” said her mother Maisha Walker. “Then it just came back and it was just so disappointing to her.”

Tags Covid, Kids, Long, Scary, struggle

Entertainment

Aaliyah’s Music Will Lastly Be Streaming. What Took So Lengthy?

Post author By
Post date August 5, 2021

For years it was one of the most noticeable and enigmatic absences in music: most of the catalog of Aaliyah, the pioneering R&B singer of the 1990s and early 2000s, was missing from digital services – and provided the work of one of the most influential pop stars of the past few decades largely invisible and robbed they of a fair inheritance. The singer, whose full name was Aaliyah Haughton, died in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of 22.

But on Thursday came the surprise announcement that their music would soon hit streaming platforms, starting with their second album “One in a Million” (1996) on August 20th.

Fans, including Cardi B, partied online. But the return of Aaliyah’s music remains difficult as a battle continues between her estate and the music impresario who signed her as a teenager and maintains control of most of her catalog. Here is an overview of their long periods of unavailability on the services that dominate music consumption today.

What music is coming out now?

Blackground Records, founded by producer Barry Hankerson – Aaliyah’s uncle – said it will republish 17 albums from its catalog on streaming services as well as CD and vinyl over the next two months. They comprise the majority of Aaliyah’s production – her studio albums “One in a Million” and “Aaliyah”, along with the “Romeo Must Die” soundtrack and two posthumous collections – as well as albums by Timbaland, Toni Braxton, JoJo and Tank.

The releases, made through a distribution agreement with the independent music company Empire, will introduce a new generation to Aaliyah’s work. In the 1990s she stood out as a powerful voice in the emerging hip-hop sound: an upright young woman – she was just 15 when she released her first album “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number” (1994) – the like a street smart angel sang over some of the most innovative backing tracks of the time.

“Where most divas insist on being at the center of the song,” wrote Kelefa Sanneh of the New York Times in a 2001 tribute, “she knew how to disappear into the music, to adapt her voice to the bass line – it was sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other. “

Who is Barry Hankerson?

Hankerson is an elusive, powerful, and divisive personality in the music business. Once married to Gladys Knight, he later discovered and administered R. Kelly. He built Blackground into one of the most successful black music companies of his time, but came into conflict with artists. Braxton, JoJo and others have sued the label, with Braxton accusing Hankerson of “fraud, deception and double-dealing,” according to a 2016 article on Complex music site entitled “The Inexplicable Online Absence of Aaliyah’s Best Music.”

In 1991, Hankerson introduced his 12-year-old niece, Kelly, who was twice her age. Kelly, then an aspiring singer, songwriter, and producer, became the primary force shaping Aaliyah’s early career, writing and producing much of her material, and making Aaliyah a part of his entourage.

It was later revealed that Kelly had secretly married Aaliyah in 1994 when she was 15 and he was 27 as a co-worker to obtain fake ID for Aaliyah stating her age at 18. Their marriage was annulled.

After Hankerson moved distribution of Blackground releases from the Jive label to Atlantic in the mid-1990s, Aaliyah began working with two young Virginia songwriter-producers: Timbaland and Missy Elliott. Their first collaboration, “One in a Million” (1996), went double platinum and produced the hit singles “If Your Girl Only Knew” and “The One I Gave My Heart To”.

What happened to Aaliyah’s music?

When Aaliyah died, she seemed well on the way to a great career. But as the music business evolved in the digital age and Blackground’s production waned, their music largely disappeared.

Aside from the album “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number,” which remained part of the Jive catalog through Sony Music, and a handful of other tracks, most of Aaliyah’s songs were not available for streaming. Used CDs and LPs from your labor market at sensational prices.

Their influence has remained, although sometimes it is more imaginary than real. Last month, singer Normani released a song with Cardi B, “Wild Side,” which contained what many fans thought was a sample of an Aaliyah drum break. (Billboard said it didn’t, even though Hankerson said it would still have its blessings.) And interest in her story was piqued by the 2019 documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, which went in depth dealt with their relationship.

Although the streaming catalog has almost reached the long-predicted degree of completion of the Heavenly Jukebox, there are a few other notable absences. De La Soul’s early work, including his classic 1989 debut “3 Feet High and Rising,” is not online, apparently due to sample deletion issues. (The new owners of this music have pledged to make it available, although no specific plans have been announced.)

Why is the music becoming available now?

What exactly led to the current release of Aaliyah’s music is unclear.

According to a new article on Billboard, Hankerson began looking for a new deal for her music about a year ago after Aaliyah’s estate made a cryptic announcement that “communication between the estate and” various record labels “has finally started to put online. “More updates will follow,” it said.

But the estate does not control Aaliyah’s recordings; Hankerson does this through his possession of the Blackground label. For months, fans have been following more mysterious statements from the estate, including one in January, around Aaliyah’s 42nd birthday, that “these matters are not under our control”.

When Blackground announced its re-release plans, the property responded with another confusing statement, saying that for 20 years it has endured “shadowy deception associated with unauthorized projects aimed at tarnishing,” but at the same time with “forgiveness” and desire to move expresses.

A more straightforward explanation of what was going on behind the scenes came from an estate attorney, Paul V. LiCalsi, who said, “For nearly 20 years, Blackground has failed to regularly account to the estate in accordance with its record of contracts . In addition, the estate was only made aware of the forthcoming publication of the catalog after the deal had been concluded and the planning had been completed. “

Quoting a Blackground representative in response, Billboard said the property “will receive whatever it is due” and that a license fee was paid earlier this year.

For fans, the behind-the-scenes battle may be less important than the music that finally becomes available online

“Baby Girl is coming to Spotify,” the service announced on Twitter with a picture of Aaliyah. “We have waited a long time for this.”

Tags Aaliyahs, Finally, Long, Music, Streaming

Health

Lengthy Covid check may quickly be accessible, researchers hope

Post author By
Post date July 14, 2021

Shalonda Williams-Hampton, 32, has her blood drawn by Northwell Health medical staff for the antibody tests that determine if a person has immunity to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the First Baptist Cathedral of Westbury in Westbury, New York, has developed. 05/13/2020.

Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

“Long Covid” – the name for persistent symptoms that millions have reported after being infected with Covid-19 – is here to “haunt us for a while,” according to a scientist studying the effects of the disease. But there is hope that a diagnostic test may be developed soon.

Symptoms of long-term Covid vary, but may include persistent tiredness, shortness of breath, memory loss or difficulty concentrating (referred to as “brain fog”), insomnia, chest pain, or dizziness. However, it remains a poorly understood condition and scientists do not yet know why some people continue to have some symptoms after Covid and others do not.

Data recently collected in a UK study suggested that millions of people could be affected by long-term Covid following coronavirus infection. To date, more than 187 million cases of Covid have been registered worldwide. Given this number, the potential number of people who could be affected by long-term Covid is significant.

Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told CNBC on Tuesday that “the data (on long Covid) is coming through thick and fast and what they say of the 170 million people on the planet who are infected with this virus that 10-20% of them will have long-term persistent symptoms. “

“What you see are people with wheezing or shortness of breath, fatigue and brain fog and this long list of about 50 symptoms. So it’s really a thing and a thing that will haunt us for a while. It’s a price we’re paying we have to and we have to look at people’s lives and jobs and health care for them, “he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe.

Altmann found that data on long Covid “were very reproducible all over the world, regardless of whether you are looking in China or Bangladesh or France or the USA”.

Scientists consider organ damage due to a Covid infection, problems with the immune system after an infection or reactivation of the virus as possible causes of long Covid; or maybe a combination of factors.

A UK study published last October identified the main factors that increase the likelihood of patients suffering from the coronavirus over the long term, including age, weight and gender. But further research gives hope that there may soon be a test to diagnose the poorly understood, but often life-changing condition.

Tests for long Covid?

Altmann from Imperial College is part of a team that has been researching Covid and analyzing blood samples from those who have it to find the cause.

In a preview of their early results on Monday evening on the BBC’s Panorama program, the team said it found that irregular antibodies were common in blood samples from people with long-term Covid.

Usually the immune system creates a protective response by making antibodies to fight a virus, but sometimes it goes wrong and “autoantibodies” – sometimes called “rogue antibodies” – are produced that attack healthy cells.

Altmann’s researchers found that such autoantibodies were widespread in people with long Covid, although only a few blood samples were analyzed in the pilot study. However, autoantibodies were found in comparative blood samples from people who recovered quickly from the virus or who never tested positive for Covid-19.

Still, the detection of such irregular antibodies in people with long Covid could pave the way for a simple diagnostic test that analyzes a person’s blood. If autoantibodies are found, long Covid could potentially be diagnosed; and this, in turn, could help create treatment and recovery plans for patients.

Speaking to the BBC, Altmann said the results could not yet be called a breakthrough, but they were “very exciting progress”.

“One of the things that we know with absolute certainty is that Covid can result from any type of infection for a long time: asymptomatic, light or severe,” he told Panorama.

“The pilot data we have says that you can really see different patterns of autoimmunity in people with long Covid,” he said. Although more research needs to be done, Altmann said he was optimistic that there could be a simple blood test that can diagnose long Covid within six months.

Tags Covid, hope, Long, researchers, test

Health

Serving to Runners With Lengthy Covid Get Again on Their Toes

Post author By
Post date July 9, 2021

Penn developed a physical therapy program that varies depending on the severity of each patient’s symptoms. “For some patients who have been really seriously affected and unable to engage in activities, how do we go back to the housework that they have to do every day? How do we manage this during the day so that you don’t have to do everything at once? “

For those with less severe symptoms, the focus is on gradually getting active again and keeping the heart rate at 60 to 70 percent of its maximum for the time being. “If they tolerate it and agree to it for a week or two, we’ll build on it,” he said.

Long-distance Covid patients tend to “have a honeymoon, maybe two or three weeks after the acute illness,” said Dr. R. Kannan Mutharasan, cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and co-program director of exercise cardiology. “You’re finally feeling back to yourself and saying, ‘I’m going to run,'” he said. But afterwards they notice that they don’t feel like they used to. A few weeks later, they may experience “things like lightheadedness or a fast heartbeat even while walking.”

That happened to one of his patients, Hannah Engle, 23, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 last July. She tried running again in October and her heart rate rose to 210 beats per minute. She is now on her way to take it slow, but there are still setbacks if she overdoes it. For example, in May, after a seemingly simple exercise with jumping jacks and stretching, she began to experience chest pain and dizziness.

Ms. Engle has always been an active person. As a child, she competed in diving, cheerleading, and gymnastics, and even did gymnastics at club level through college. After graduation, she stayed active while working in Arlington, Virginia through CrossFit, weight lifting, and 5K running to encourage people to get into the STEM areas – science, technology, engineering, and math.

Tags Covid, Feet, Helping, Long, Runners

Health

Hundreds of thousands might be affected by lengthy Covid, British research suggests

Post author By
Post date June 27, 2021

Healthcare workers in North Memorial’s 2019s South Six and South Seven Intensive Care Units treated patients critically ill with COVID-19 on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020 at North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minn.

Aaron Lavinsky | Star Tribune via Getty Images

A study in England looking at persistent Covid-19 symptoms suggests that around 2 million people in the country may have had the condition known as “long Covid.”

The study, part of Imperial College London’s REACT research which is tracking the virus in England, saw 508,707 people across the country of roughly 56 million asked whether they’d had Covid (confirmed or suspected), and asked about the presence and duration of 29 different symptoms linked to the virus.

Among the 76,155 participants that said they had experienced a symptomatic Covid infection, 37.7% said they experienced at least one symptom lasting 12 weeks or more, while almost 15% of people said they had experienced three or more symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more.

The symptoms of long Covid can vary, with people reporting ongoing fatigue, shortness of breath, memory loss or problems with concentration (dubbed “brain fog”), insomnia, chest pain or dizziness, as well as other symptoms. But it is still poorly understood and scientists don’t yet know why some people continue to have symptoms post-Covid, and others none.

“In this large community-based study of symptoms following Covid-19 among adults aged 18 years and above in England, participants reported high prevalence of persistent symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more,” the researchers at Imperial noted of their latest study.

Extrapolating the findings in the study to the wider Covid backdrop in England, where there have been 4.07 million Covid cases confirmed to date, the study could mean that over 2 million adults who have had the virus in England may have experienced some form of long Covid.

“Estimates ranged from 5.8% of the population experiencing one or more persistent symptoms post-Covid-19 (corresponding to over 2 million adults in England), to 2.2% for three or more persistent symptoms (just under a million adults in England),” the researchers noted.

They said that their estimates of the proportion of people with persistent Covid symptoms were higher than in many other studies, although previous estimates have varied widely.

“Our comparatively high estimate, at 37.7% of people with Covid-19 experiencing one or more symptoms at 12 weeks, may partly reflect the large list of symptoms we surveyed, many of which are common and not specific to Covid-19. However, we asked participants only about symptoms that they related to a confirmed or suspected episode of Covid-19, and not to symptoms more generally.”

Scientists are still investigating long Covid, and experts have urged the British government to address its public health implications; the National Health Service has opened long Covid assessment centers, for example.

“A substantial proportion of people with symptomatic Covid-19 go on to have persistent symptoms for 12 weeks or more, which is age-dependent. Clinicians need to be aware of the differing manifestations of Long Covid which may require tailored therapeutic approaches,” researchers at Imperial said.

The survey data was collected between Sept. 15 last year and Feb. 8 and the study is a preprint, and has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a journal.

Tags British, Covid, Long, Millions, Study, Suffering, Suggests

Health

I’ve Recovered From Lengthy Covid. I’m One of many Fortunate Ones.

Post author By
Post date June 21, 2021

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and gives a behind-the-scenes look at how our journalism comes together.

I recently met a friend for lunch, one of my first social outings in New York since Covid-19 drove the world into loneliness 15 months ago. We laughed and shared a bottle of Prosecco. We didn’t wear masks. We hugged. Twice. When we said goodbye after our three-hour Gabfest, a woman said as she passed us on the street: “It’s so nice to see people happy again.”

There are signs everywhere that a normal life, or whatever it is in a post-pandemic world, is emerging again. But for the tens of thousands of people who have contracted the coronavirus and continue to have symptoms, the euphoria is short-lived. I was diagnosed with Covid-19 in April 2020 and suffered from chest pain, fatigue, fever, night sweats and other illnesses for almost 10 months that lasted long after the virus was cleared from my body. I wrote about the experience for Times Magazine earlier this year, wondering if I would ever feel like myself again.

Fortunately, I seem to be back to normal. But I was restless when I got my second vaccination three weeks ago and worried about how my body would react. I sobbed when the nurse stabbed me with a syringe; The next day I curled up in a ball on my bed, overwhelmed with the chills and fever. Researchers suspect that the vaccine may help the immune system fight off any residual virus. But the truth is we still don’t know that much about Covid.

This month, a study that tracked the health insurance records of nearly two million people in the United States who contracted the coronavirus last year found that nearly a quarter of them – 23 percent – were seeking medical treatment for new conditions, including nerve and muscle pain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and fatigue. It affects people of all ages, including children, and people who did not show symptoms of the virus also experienced problems.

Doctors are only just beginning to study the long-term effects of the virus. In February, the National Institutes of Health announced a $ 1.15 billion initiative to identify the causes of long-term Covid, as well as protocols to prevent and treat those whose symptoms persist. Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the NIH, said at the time that given the number of people infected, “the public health implications could be profound”.

I got a look at it when I was writing about my experience. And what I saw was a fellowship in pain. We received emails from readers who had suffered from Covid for a long time or knew relatives who were suffering and did not know how to help. “Your incredibly factual and personal story really hit like a sledgehammer,” wrote one reader. Another reader said: “Sometimes I feel so alone in it, and when I saw your piece I felt seen, understood and less alone.”

The article was read by more than half a million online readers in the first week alone, from Tanzania to France, Japan, Brazil, India and beyond. I got calls and emails from doctors spreading it to their patients. It was cited as essential reading at a meeting of medical professionals at Stanford University Medical School. This awareness has been a boon to long-time Covid sufferers who worried that people were viewing their seemingly random symptoms as psychological rather than physiological.

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June 21, 2021, 5:36 p.m. ET

“I hope your article helps doctors see that we are not all ‘on our heads’ with anxiety,” wrote one reader.

People emailed me a lot of advice. I was told to stop eating sugar, eat gluten-free, and avoid dairy products. One reader suggested acupuncture. Another recommended a vitamin cocktail with D and zinc, others encouraged breathing exercises and homeopathic medicine. Eliminating unnecessary stressful situations made me feel better. But maybe that would have been helpful, whether I had Covid or not. That way, the virus is a smart teacher.

What I find most worrying, however, is the helplessness that so many people still feel more than a year later as the country seems to joyfully wake up from its coronavirus slumber. A man wrote me a letter in January about his daughter who fell ill last summer and found little comfort. I wrote her (as well as the over 200 readers who contacted me) an email wishing her a speedy recovery. When I emailed her father last month to see how the family was doing, he said little had improved.

“It expresses a feeling of hopelessness that is so heartbreaking to us,” he wrote.

It’s heartbreaking to me too. I am grateful to hug friends and have long lunches. But with too many others the pain persists.

Tags Covid, Ive, Long, Lucky, Recovered

World News

Vaccinations Rise within the E.U. After a Lengthy, Sluggish Begin

Post author By
Post date May 10, 2021

Vaccinations Rise in the E.U. After a Long, Slow Start

Vaccinations are picking up speed in the European Union, an amazing turnaround after the bloc’s vaccination campaign stalled for months.

On average over the past week, nearly three million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered daily in the European Union, a group of 27 nations, according to Our World in Data, an Oxford University database. When adjusted for population, the rate is roughly equivalent to the number of shots per day in the United States, where demand has declined.

The EU vaccination campaign, hampered by interruptions in supplies of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines, last month revolved around the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.

Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Pfizer had agreed to an early delivery of doses that should likely allow the bloc to meet its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of adults by the end of summer. The European Union is also about to announce a contract with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for 2022 and 2023 that will include 1.8 billion doses for boosters, variants and children’s vaccines.

The United States acted aggressively as part of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed to raise millions of doses by funding and promoting vaccine production. But the European Union has not partnered with drug manufacturers like the US has, but more like a customer than an investor.

“I think it is overdue that the EU has stepped up its vaccination campaign,” said Beate Kampmann, director of the vaccine center at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“I think with the number of deaths and new cases in the EU, it is absolutely important that we get the vaccine to the people there very, very quickly,” she added.

The rise of the EU underscores the differences in vaccination efforts around the world.

About 83 percent of Covid shots were given in high- and higher-middle-income countries, while only 0.3 percent of the doses were given in low-income countries. In North America, more than 30 percent of people have received at least one dose, according to Our World in Data. In Europe it is almost 24 percent. In Africa it is just over 1 percent.

Experts warn that if the virus is widespread in large parts of the world without vaccines and threatens all countries, dangerous variants will continue to evolve and spread.

Last week, the Biden government said it supported the waiver of intellectual property protection for Covid vaccines, which would have to be approved by the World Trade Organization. And even then, experts warn that drug companies around the world would need tech help to make the vaccines and time to ramp up production.

European leaders like Ms. von der Leyen and President Emmanuel Macron has made it clear that President Biden should take a different approach and instead lift the export restrictions on vaccines that the United States has used to keep most doses for domestic use. “We call on all vaccine-producing countries to allow exports and to avoid measures that disrupt the supply chain,” said Ms. von der Leyen in a speech last week.

But the matter is not so absolute, said Dr. Thomas Tsai, Professor of Health Policy at Harvard University. “What is really needed is a comprehensive approach,” he said. Abandoning patents is a big long-term step, but lifting export bans would help sooner.

“There is a need to develop a broader strategy,” said Dr. Tsai to vaccinate the world. “We need the same kind of Warp Speed engagement. It’s an investment. “

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Biden government’s top advisor on Covid-19, said on Sunday that the United States and other countries, as well as vaccine manufacturers, need to help particularly address the crisis in India, which is less than 10 percent of the time Population are at least partially vaccinated as the country battles a devastating virus wave.

“Other countries need to step in to either supply the Indians with supplies to make their own vaccines, or to donate vaccines,” said Dr. Fauci in ABC’s “This Week”. “One of the ways to do this is if the big companies that are able to develop vaccines to scale really big are literally given hundreds of millions of doses to reach them.”

Tags Long, rise, slow, start, vaccinations