Category Archives: Covid-19

1. Covid-19 cases are on the rise in L.A. County. Heres what you need to know  Boyle Heights Beat
2. Driving deaths have been happening more since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, study shows  KCRA Sacramento
3. Patient trust in healthcare tanked during COVID-19 pandemic  TechTarget

View post:

Covid-19 cases are on the rise in L.A. County. Heres what you need to know - Boyle Heights Beat

Scientists are piecing together the puzzle of long COVID. Heres what to know  PBS NewsHour

Continue reading here:

Scientists are piecing together the puzzle of long COVID. Heres what to know - PBS NewsHour

Joe Rogan's new special jabs at COVID and trans issues with provocative humour  Hindustan Times

Read more:

Joe Rogan's new special jabs at COVID and trans issues with provocative humour - Hindustan Times

Dengue, flu, COVID: How to identify their symptoms as per experts  The Times of India

Read more:

Dengue, flu, COVID: How to identify their symptoms as per experts - The Times of India

Risky driving led to deadly crash spike during pandemic, research finds  NBC Washington

Read the original here:

Risky driving led to deadly crash spike during pandemic, research finds - NBC Washington

COVID-19 surging in California. Is it time to bring back masks, hand sanitizer? What experts say  The Hastings Tribune

Here is the original post:

COVID-19 surging in California. Is it time to bring back masks, hand sanitizer? What experts say - The Hastings Tribune

Fact checked by Nick BlackmerFact checked by Nick Blackmer

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that a new COVID variant called KP.3 has risen to dominance in the United States.

KP.3 accounts for 25% of cases, while another variant, KP.2, makes up about 22% of cases.

Experts said that KP.3 isn't likely to cause more severe symptoms than other COVID strains.

A new COVID-19 variant called KP.3 has surged to dominance in the United States, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of June 8, KP.3 accounted for 25% of cases, per the CDC. The variant has surpassed the previous dominant variant, KP.2, which now makes up about 22% of cases. Both have knocked down JN.1, the top strain circulating this past winter.

With SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, mutating consistently, its natural to be concerned each time a new variant rises to prominence.

Heres what you need to know about KP.3, including whether experts are worried about its speedy spread.

KP.3 is part of a newly identified group of variants dubbed FLiRT, which are part of SARS-CoV-2s Omicron lineage. In addition to KP.3, the FLiRT variants also include KP.2 and KP.1.1. They all descend from JN.1.

KP.3 is similar to JN.1 in its structure except for two changes in the spike protein, Carlos Zambrano, MD, a board-certified infectious disease physician and the head of the COVID-19 Task Force at Loretto Hospital in Chicago, told Health.

The spike protein is located on the viruss surface and facilitates its entry into human cells.

One change was observed in the XBB.1.5 lineage, which was predominant in 2023, he said. The second change was observed in viruses circulating in 2021.

According to C. Leilani Valdes, MD, a pathologist and medical director at Regional Pathology Associates in Victoria, Texas, the KP.3 variant has become the frontrunner because it spreads quickly and easily.

It is very good at jumping from one person to another, she said. This means more people are getting infected with KP.3 compared to other variants.

Both experts agreed that there is currently no clear evidence that KP.3 causes more severe illness than other strains, including the JN.1 strain or its derivatives. As such, people who contract KP.3 can expect to experience symptoms characteristic of other recent COVID variants.

KP.3 symptoms resemble typical COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough, fatigue, and loss of taste or smell, Valdes said. Some individuals may also experience a sore throat, headache, or muscle pain.

COVID cases are on the rise, and we can expect the number of cases to continue to increase, especially with the KP.3 variant spreading quickly, Valdes said.

The CDC reported last week that COVID-19 infections are growing or likely growing in 30 states and territories. Cases are stable or uncertain in 18 others and are likely declining in oneOklahoma.

Per Zambrano, all three COVID vaccine manufacturersPfizer, Moderna, and Novavaxhave said that their new vaccines slated for August 2024 will target the JN.1 variant.

Because the JN.1 variant is closely related to the FLiRT variants, experts have said that matching the vaccines to JN.1 will offer better protection.

Valdes stressed that vaccination remains one of the most effective tools against COVID. Staying up to date with booster shots significantly reduces the risk of severe illness and hospitalization, she said. Wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping distance from others can help prevent the spread.

The most important takeaway as we head into the summer is that KP.3 spreads easily, she added, so its important to be careful.

For more Health.com news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Health.com.

Read the rest here:

COVID Variant KP.3 Surges to DominanceHere's What You Need to Know - Yahoo! Voices

[Originally published: May 21, 2024; Updated: June 7, 2024.]

Note: Information in this article was accurate at the time of original publication. Because information about COVID-19 changes rapidly, we encourage you to visit the websites of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and your state and local government for the latest information.

The good news is that in the early spring of 2024, COVID-19 cases were down, with far fewer infections and hospitalizations than were seen in the previous winter. But SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID, is still mutating. In April, a group of new virus strains known as the FLiRT variants (based on the technical names of their two mutations) emerged.

The FLiRT strains are subvariants of Omicron, and they now account for more than 50% of COVID cases in the U.S. (up from less than 5% in March). One of them, KP.3, accounted for 25% of COVID infections in the United States by the end of the first week of June; KP.2 made up 22.5%, and KP.1.1 accounted for 7.5% of cases.

Some experts have suggested that the new variants could cause a summer surge in COVID cases. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also reports that COVID viral activity in wastewater (water containing waste from residential, commercial, and industrial processes) in the U.S. has been dropping since January and is currently minimal.

Viruses mutate all the time, so Im not surprised to see a new coronavirus variant taking over, says Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist Scott Roberts, MD. If anything, he says the new mutations are confirmation that the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains a bit of a wild card, where its always difficult to predict what it will do next. And Im guessing it will continue to mutate.

Perhaps the biggest question, Dr. Roberts says, is whether the newly mutated virus will continue to evolve before the winter, when infections and hospitalizations usually rise, and whether the FLiRT strains will be included as a component of a fall COVID vaccine.

Below, Dr. Roberts answers three questions about the FLiRT variants.

Read the original:

3 Things to Know About FLiRT, the New Coronavirus Strains - Yale Medicine

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Americans were more hesitant to take the COVID vaccine than were White Americans. As the pandemic went on, however, the disparity in vaccination rates between Black and White adults declined. In a paper titled What Caused the Narrowing of Black-White COVID-19 Vaccination Disparity in the US? A Test of 5 Hypotheses, published in the current issue of the Journal of Health Communication, researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) assessed explanations for the positive change.

Using April 2021 to July 2022 data from the Annenberg Science and Public Health (ASAPH) survey, a national panel of over 1,800 U.S. adults, a team led by APPC research director Dan Romer assessed potential explanations, including: increased trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), exposure to pro-vaccination messages in the media, awareness of COVID-inflicted deaths among personal contacts, and improved access to vaccines. None of these factors explained the decline in disparity, however. Only increased knowledge about COVID-19 vaccination made a difference. Knowledge about the COVID vaccine among Black Americans increased over time, and this increase was associated with their receipt of the vaccine.

Black Americans became less skeptical of the safety and efficacy of the vaccine as time proceeded, which appeared in our data to be an important contributor to increased vaccination rates among them, says Romer.

In the initial wave of the survey, in April 2021, Black respondents were more likely to believe various forms of misinformation about COVID vaccines, such as that the vaccines are responsible for thousands of deaths and that the vaccines can change someones DNA. By the end of the survey period, knowledge about the vaccine among Black Americans had increased significantly.

Read more at Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Read the original:

Knowledge a factor in closing Black-white COVID-19 vaccination gap | Penn Today - Penn Today

A national panel of experts that includes the director of the UConn Health Disparities Institute calls for a redefinition of the term long COVID.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee is out with a report recommending long COVID be defined as an infection associated with chronic condition that occurs after COVID-19 infection and is present for at least three months as a continuous, relapsing, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.

Recognizing the existence of multiple working definitions of long COVID, the federal government asked the National Academies to come up with single, common one.

Long COVID has profound medical, social, and economic consequences worldwide, says the NASEM in a statement. The lack of a consensus definition presents challenges for patients, clinicians, public health practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. For patients, varying presentations of the disease and competing definitions can lead to difficulties accessing medical care or obtaining support, skepticism and dismissal of their experiences, delayed or denied treatment, and social stigma.

Linda Sprague Martinez, who joined UConn Health as director of the Health Disparities Institute last fall, is part of the committee, which engaged more than 1,300 participants in preparing the report.

An important dimension of this definition that providers should pay attention to is the way in which it explicitly attends to health equity, Sprague Martinez says. This is critical because health care inequity is pervasive and the health care needs of people of color and the poor are frequently overlooked.

The consensus study report, released this week, includes findings that socioeconomic factors, inequality, discrimination, bias, and stigma can be factors in timely, proper diagnoses, which can impact the potential benefit of care and services specific to long COVID. Examples given include access to COVID-19 testing during acute illness, access to evaluation for possible long COVID, providers willingness to diagnose a particular patient, access to insurance benefits, and patients fears of stigmatization from a long COVID diagnosis.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through its Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, requested the report, which also gives examples of how establishing a clear consensus definition of long COVID can have wide application:

Under the new definition, long COVID can involve any organ system, single or multiple symptoms, and single or multiple diagnosable conditions, and any of the following could be true:

The full report, A Long COVID Definition: A Chronic, Systemic Disease State with Profound Consequences, is available online through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Original post:

Clearly Defining 'Long COVID' - UConn Today - University of Connecticut