COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.] (9 Viewers)

[Optimus Prime]

It claimed 6.7 million lives, locked down entire countries and triggered a global economic slump, but Covid-19 has not affected humankind’s happiness, an international study has found.

Interviews with more than 100,000 people across 137 countries found significantly higher levels of benevolence in all global regions than before the pandemic. And when asked to evaluate their lives on a scale of one to 10, people on average gave scores just as high in the 2020-22 Covid years as in 2017-19.

Things were slightly worse in western countries and slightly better in the rest of the world, but overall “the undoubted pains were offset by increases in the extent to which respondents had been able to discover and share the capacity to care for each other in difficult times,” the 10th World Happiness Report found…….

Covid has not affected people’s happiness around world, study reveals

World Happiness Report finds higher levels of benevolence in all global regions than before the pandemic

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

After gaining 30 pounds during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Murillo is finally getting back into fighting shape.

Early pandemic lockdowns, endless hours on his laptop and heightened stress led Murillo, 27, to reach for cookies and chips in the barracks at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Gyms were closed, organized exercise was out and Murillo’s motivation to work out on his own was low.

“I could notice it,” said Murillo, who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed as much as 192 pounds. “The uniform was tighter.”

Murillo wasn’t the only service member dealing with extra weight. New research found that obesity in the U.S. military surged during the pandemic. In the Army alone, nearly 10,000 active duty soldiers developed obesity between February 2019 and June 2021, pushing the rate to nearly a quarter of the troops studied. Increases were seen in the U.S. Navy and the Marines, too.


“The Army and the other services need to focus on how to bring the forces back to fitness,” said Tracey Perez Koehlmoos, director of the Center for Health Services Research at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, who led the research.


Overweight and obese troops are more likely to be injured and less likely to endure the physical demands of their profession. The military loses more than 650,000 workdays each year because of extra weight and obesity-related health costs exceed $1.5 billion annually for current and former service members and their families, federal research shows…….

Pandemic pounds push 10,000 U.S. Army soldiers into obesity

Obesity in the U.S. military surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research shows that nearly 10,000 active duty Army soldiers became newly obese between February 2019 and June 2021, after restricted duty and limited exercise led to higher body mass scores. Increases were also seen in the...

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

……Her children joined an estimated 245,000 children across the US who have lost one or both parents to Covid and an estimated 10.5 million Covid orphans worldwide, according to the Global Reference Group on Children Affected by Covid-19, an international consortium studying the issue, and the London-based medical journal BMJ.

Many have complex needs that cut across bureaucratic silos – from grief counseling, mental health support and school transitions to formalizing a grandparent’s guardianship or securing public benefits.

But despite the profound implications for these children, their families and their communities, Covid orphans have been largely overlooked in policy responses to the pandemic, according to people working on the issue.

‘Everybody’s tired of talking about Covid’​

In February, an advisory board in California began working on designing the most ambitious response in the US to date, a $100m fund that will be disbursed to Covid orphans (as well as children who have been in foster care) meeting certain requirements when they turn 18 – including being from low-income families.

But the California program, called Hope, for Hope, Opportunity, Perseverance, and Empowerment, has not been replicated elsewhere in the US, and although President Joe Biden underscored the urgency of caring for children orphaned by Covid in May of last year, the federal government has yet to address the issue directly with national policies or programs……..

Covid has left thousands of US children orphans. Few states are addressing the crisis

An estimated 245,000 children in the US have lost one or both parents to Covid, but despite profound implications they have been largely overlooked in policy responses

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

A new study from the University of Miami is revealing the first two cases of Covid-19 infecting infants in the womb and causing brain damage.

On Thursday, researchers at the University of Miami Health Systems and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine found two cases where Covid-19 breached a mother’s placenta and affected a newborn.

At the Neonatal Intensive Care United (NICU) at Holtz Children’s Hospital, two newborns tested negative for Covid-19 at birth but both had “significantly elevated” antibodies in their blood.

Both infants were born to young mothers who tested positive for the virus at some point in their pregnancies in 2020. Neither mother was vaccinated as vaccines were not available at the time…….

Two infants suffer brain damage from Covid infection in the womb in landmark case

The authors of the study stress that both cases are rare occurrences

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

Five people who had the Arcturus strain of Covid have died, according to the latest data from public health chiefs.

As of 17 April, there were 105 cases of XBB.1.16 – also known as Arcturus – in England, with infections located in all regions apart from the northeast.

Health chiefs have said that there is no evidence to suggest the new subvariant is more severe than past ones.

Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol, who is also an advisor to the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccinations, told The Independent: “There’s no clear evidence that it’s a more dangerous variant in terms of case fatality rates, or hospitalisation rates than the previous and currently circulating subvariants……

Five die with Arcturus variant in UK as strain spreads globally

105 XBB.1.16 cases have been identified in England, with cases located in all regions apart from the North East

www.independent.co.uk

 

[faceman]

Five people who had the Arcturus strain of Covid have died, according to the latest data from public health chiefs.

As of 17 April, there were 105 cases of XBB.1.16 – also known as Arcturus – in England, with infections located in all regions apart from the northeast.

Health chiefs have said that there is no evidence to suggest the new subvariant is more severe than past ones.

Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol, who is also an advisor to the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccinations, told The Independent: “There’s no clear evidence that it’s a more dangerous variant in terms of case fatality rates, or hospitalisation rates than the previous and currently circulating subvariants……

Five die with Arcturus variant in UK as strain spreads globally

105 XBB.1.16 cases have been identified in England, with cases located in all regions apart from the North East

www.independent.co.uk

New coronavirus subvariant Arcturus is now in L.A. Is there reason to worry?

Arcturus, also known as XBB.1.16, has also attracted attention after reports linking it to what has been a rare COVID-19 symptom: pink eye.

www.latimes.com

It’s unclear how many Arcturus cases have appeared in California. At least three have been identified in L.A. County, according to Ferrer.

Because Arcturus is an Omicron subvariant, Ferrer said it’s likely that current vaccines and therapeutic drugs will be effective on this strain.

 

[Optimus Prime]

New coronavirus subvariant Arcturus is now in L.A. Is there reason to worry?

Arcturus, also known as XBB.1.16, has also attracted attention after reports linking it to what has been a rare COVID-19 symptom: pink eye.

www.latimes.com

It’s unclear how many Arcturus cases have appeared in California. At least three have been identified in L.A. County, according to Ferrer.

Because Arcturus is an Omicron subvariant, Ferrer said it’s likely that current vaccines and therapeutic drugs will be effective on this strain.

Certainly hope so

 

[faceman]

Certainly hope so

If so, I'm good. That said covid isn't going away soon

 

[Optimus Prime]

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A California church that defied safety regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic by holding large, unmasked religious services must pay $1.2 million in fines, a judge has ruled.

Calvary Chapel in San Jose was fined last week for ignoring Santa Clara County’s mask-wearing rules between November 2020 and June 2021.

The church will appeal, attorney Mariah Gondeiro told the San Jose Mercury News.

Calvary was one of several large California evangelical churches that flouted state and local mask-wearing and social distancing rules designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during its deadliest period.

That has led to a tangled web of court rulings and challenges.

Calvary Chapel sued the county, arguing the health orders violated its religious freedom. Various courts have ruled either in favor the church or the county.

The church and its pastors were previously held in contempt of court and fined for violating limits on indoor public gatherings.

But a state appellate court reversed those decisions last year, saying that the restrictions on indoor worship services were stricter than for secular activities such as going to grocery stores……

California church must pay $1.2M for breaking COVID rules

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A California church that defied safety regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic by holding large, unmasked religious services must pay $1.2 million in fines, a judge has ruled.

apnews.com

The county continued to seek fines for violations of mask-wearing regulations.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Doctors’ offices were the last place in Montana where Missoula resident Jenna James, who has long covid and other chronic conditions, had felt comfortable knowing others had to mask.


Then, like in nearly all states this spring, Montana health-care facilities ended their mask requirements. One clinic warned James when she called that it may not have masks on hand for staff, she recalled. A nurse at a hospital took 10 minutes to find one.

An unmasked receptionist coughed as James waited in a crowded waiting room recently to have blood drawn.


Days later, James woke up with a cough and sore throat and is bracing to test positive for the coronavirus.

“I literally have to choose between lifesaving medical care and exposure to covid, which really isn’t a choice,” said James, 42. “It’s a high-risk situation being forced on me with little to no ability to consent.”


With the era of government-mandated masking at restaurants, grocery stores and schools long gone, hospitals and doctors’ offices were the last to carry the most visible reminders of the three-year-old pandemic.

But regulators and some infectious-disease specialists have concluded universal masking is no longer essential in medical settings, prompting one of the starkest returns to pre-covid life.


Oregon, Washington and California were among the last states to lift such requirements in April, with Massachusetts set to follow when the state and federal public health emergency ends May 11.


The rollback of restrictions has had consequences: After a recent covid outbreak at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in northern California, the Santa Rosa facility restored its mask mandate on April 21, nearly three weeks after lifting it……….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/05/01/mask-mandate-hospital-covid/

 

[Eeyore]

COVID has broken out at work. We went from 0 cases for quite a while to having nearly a dozen. A problem that I see, but management does not recognize, is the 5 day rule where you stay home for five days and then come back to work.

 

[Optimus Prime]

WHO downgrades COVID pandemic, says it's no longer emergency

The World Health Organization says that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency. The announcement on Friday marks a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions of people worldwide. WHO said that...

apnews.com

 

[DaveXA]

WHO downgrades COVID pandemic, says it's no longer emergency

The World Health Organization says that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency. The announcement on Friday marks a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions of people worldwide. WHO said that...

apnews.com

Interestingly enough, several friends here have gotten Covid in recent weeks. So, it's still out there. Good friend who lives in our neighborhood tested positive a couple of days ago. So people are still getting it.

 

[Doug B]

So people are still getting it.

No doubt about it.

I hope that "ends public health emergency" doesn't suggest to people that COVID no longer exists. I'd bet many Americans think "it's just gone now", though.

Flip side: I do believe, however, that all pandemics come to an end as society-altering threats ... and that we are now "on the other side" with COVID. It's now among the battery of familiar diseases that 999 out of 1,000 of us can reliably shrug off -- until we age or become infirm and reach that day when we can't.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Interestingly enough, several friends here have gotten Covid in recent weeks. So, it's still out there. Good friend who lives in our neighborhood tested positive a couple of days ago. So people are still getting it.

And still dying from it

I thought I read recently about 1000-1200 deaths (in US) a week

At its peak I think it was 3-4K a day