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COVID-19 WATCH
The Latest
Global Numbers
- 99,802,069 cases
- 2,142,650 deaths
- 55,165,102 recovered
—Center for Systems Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
Key Developments
Cumulative cigarette exposure was linked to a higher risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and death, according to a new study that found heavy smokers were 2.25X more likely to be hospitalized with the virus, and 1.89X times more likely to die after diagnosis, than never-smokers. JAMA
Unrest continued across the Netherlands in what police are calling the “worst rioting in 40 years,” as protesters against COVID-19 curfews clashed with police and threw fireworks. Deutsche Welle
The WHO has issued new clinical advice for treating COVID-19, including guidance for patients with persistent symptoms, recommendations on using low-dose anti-coagulants to prevent blood clots, and at-home use of pulse oximetry. Reuters
Retracted COVID papers at the center of research scandals continue to be cited: The 2 papers, in The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet, appear in more than half of the 200 most recent academic articles published in 2020. Science Thanks for the tip, Cecilia Meisner!
Related
MSF: Only 2 percent of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine supply is going to COVAX Facility – MSF
When will kids be able to get the Covid-19 vaccines? – Vox
The Pandemic Is Finally Softening. Will That Last? – The Atlantic
As Virus Grows Stealthier, Vaccine Makers Reconsider Battle Plans – The New York Times
Undercounting of Covid-19 deaths is greatest in pro-Trump areas, analysis shows – STAT
Dr. Fauci: Double-masking makes ‘common sense’ and is likely more effective – CNBC
MDH lab testing confirms nation’s first known COVID-19 case associated with Brazil P.1 variant – Minnesota Department of Health
Poverty, precarious work, and the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from Bolivia – The Lancet Global Health
UN experts tell Sri Lanka to end anti-Islam forced cremation – Daily Sabah
Neuroinvasion and Encephalitis Following Intranasal Inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 in K18-hACE2 Mice – Viruses
Post-COVID lungs worse than the worst smokers' lungs, surgeon says – KTXS (ABC)
WHO officials: Olympic athletes should not receive COVID-19 vaccines before world's most vulnerable populations – USA Today
Gorilla treated with antibodies recovering from Covid, says US zoo – France24
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COVID-19 EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
COVID-19 Isn't Political; Its Response Shouldn't Be Politicized
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A poster in Hanoi, Vietnam reminds people to take protective measures against COVID-19, April 1, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Image: Linh Pham/Getty
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A year after the first COVID-19 case was reported in Wuhan, China, the few countries that have managed to contain the disease share few, if any, political similarities—from authoritarianism in China, to single-party socialism in Vietnam, to representative democracy in New Zealand.
The Common Thread: public unity and a depoliticized response, write physicians Dominique Vervoort, from Belgium, and Hloni Bookholane, from South Africa.
Some Western European democracies fared worse. Belgium’s hard lockdowns lost the public’s trust, and Sweden’s laissez-faire policies fell short of much hoped-for herd immunity.
And in the Americas, the pandemic became bitterly politicized. In the US and Brazil, “The pandemic was an inconvenience to the political and personal agendas of these presidential pariahs,” Vervoort and Bookholane say.
The Outcome: disturbingly high COVID per-capita death tolls.
As COVID-Zero, an ambitious goal to limit new infections, gains global momentum, adequate pandemic responses require depoliticization of public health measures, they write.
That means that leaders and advisory committees need to put aside their political agendas, while citizens “should consider this an ultimate test of humanity and kindred spirit—no less so than during times of conflict, warfare, or natural disasters.”
Dominique Vervoort and Hloni Bookholane for Global Health NOW
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COVID-19: FAMILY PLANNING
The Pandemic Imperils Family Planning Progress
60 million women and girls in the world’s poorest countries gained access to modern family planning methods in the FP2020 partnership’s 8-year run—but the pandemic imperils that progress, The Guardian reports.
320 million women and girls now use modern contraception in 69 focus countries, reveals the FP2020’s final progress report, published today.
- Modern contraceptive users doubled in 13 countries—including Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Somalia, since the effort launched in 2012—and grew 66% across Africa.
- More than 121 million unintended pregnancies, 21 million unsafe abortions, and 125,000 maternal deaths were prevented in 2020 alone.
However, the pandemic has “unleashed a host of corollary effects: a global increase in gender-based violence and child marriage, a global drop in women’s workforce participation and girls’ school enrollment, and a global economic recession,” threatening family planning efforts for years.
Still, the number of women seeking modern contraceptives continues to climb—by ~15 million per year in the focus countries. Reaching them will drive the new partnership, which updates its name today: FP2030.
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NEGLECTED DISEASES
Hookworm in Alabama
There is precious little research about hookworm in the US these days, but that doesn’t mean it’s not circulating.
Researchers who study the parasites—known to thrive with moist climates and poor sanitation—chiefly focus on Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
But in 2017, a fresh spate of research found that more than a third of the people in 1 Alabama county were infected with hookworm.
The solution is clear: adequate sanitation.
Another challenge: The US go-to treatment can cost $500 a pill compared to pennies per patient in Argentina where hookworm is endemic.
NPR Goats and Soda
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TRAINING
Next Gen Virus Hunters
The pandemic has made public education much harder, but some teachers are seizing the opportunity to inspire the next generation of virus hunters.
Working in the field is a welcome relief from Zoom classrooms.
Bonus: It can foster a passion for epidemiology and virology.
In New York, the Virus Hunter program has sent teens to parks to collect goose droppings in the search for flu viruses that may jump from fowl to humans.
An outbreak simulation program in Sarasota, Florida, prompted a budding 8th grade epidemiologist to say: “The coronavirus is a wake-up call. We have to be ready for this kind of stuff.”
The New York Times
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Other Side to the Story
Thank you for regularly putting out what has become my favorite newsletter. However, in the latest newsletter, I noticed an unbalanced representation of a public health situation.
You highlighted the high vaccine coverage in Israel [GHN’s Real-World Vaccine Performance Reviews summary, Jan. 25, 2021]. With up to 20% of its total population already vaccinated, this is indeed a success for Israel.
But it is also a terrible example of health inequity. While millions of Israeli citizens have already been vaccinated, not one Palestinian living under Israeli occupation has. Even Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are vaccinated while their neighbors are not—because of their ethnicity.
The term “Vaccine Apartheid” is now circulating in the media in reference to the unequal access between poor and rich countries to the COVID-19 vaccine. But in Israel’s situation, this apartheid is happening within territories that it controls. Indeed, it’s a teachable example of how injustice drives public health problems.—Maha Aon, MHS '02, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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Twitter
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Air pollution linked to higher risk of irreversible sight loss – The Guardian
Global Health Security Act reintroduced to House to address U.S. global health needs – Homeland Preparedness News
CDC: One in five people in U.S. has a sexually transmitted infection – UPI
Stanford doctor and author fights medical misinformation in time of COVID-19 – Monterey Herald
What ‘Livability’ Looks Like for Black Women – Bloomberg CityLab Thanks for the tip, Holden Warren!
Are We Screening Too Much for Skin Cancer? It’s Complicated. – Undark
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