About Covid-19
Fauci says quarantines may be shortened for asymptomatic health care workers: “ Fauci told CNN that while there are ‘no decisions yet,’ changing the guidance is an "important consideration that is being discussed right now."
‘Rather than keeping [health care workers] out for seven to 10 days, if they are without symptoms, put a N95 mask on them, make sure they have the proper PPE, and they may be able to get back to work sooner than the full length of the quarantine period,’ Fauci said to CNN.”
FDA authorizes Pfizer’s anti-covid pill as omicron surges: “Tens of thousands of pill packs of Pfizer’s Paxlovid are sitting in a Pfizer warehouse in Memphis, ready to be loaded onto trucks and planes in anticipation of the green light from the Food and Drug Administration. But as omicron cases skyrocket nationwide, doctors are expected to quickly burn through that initial supply of Paxlovid, which has shown to be 89 percent effective at keeping high-risk patients from developing severe illness when given within three days of symptoms starting.”
Oxford and AstraZeneca developing Omicron-targeted version of vaccine: The headline is the story.
California to require boosters for healthcare workers: “The announcement came after California issued an order Aug. 5 requiring workers in healthcare settings to be fully vaccinated. [Gov.} Newsom is expected to make an official announcement about the move related to boosters on Dec. 22 as part of new state actions amid increasing COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations.”
Biden seeks to recast pandemic fight, rejecting lockdowns and school closures as omicron surges: “Biden detailed new plans to expand coronavirus testing sites across the country, distribute a half-billion free at-home tests and deploy more federal health resources to aid strained hospitals as the omicron variant drives a fresh wave of infections.”
Israel to offer fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose in bid to outpace Omicron: “Israel is to offer a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to people older than 60 or with compromised immune systems, and to health workers, as part of a drive to ramp up the shots and outpace the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.”
Randomized Controlled Trial of Early Outpatient COVID-19 Treatment with High-Titer Convalescent Plasma: [Preprint, not yet peer reviewed]
”Early administration of high titer SARS-CoV-2 convalescent plasma reduced outpatient hospitalizations by more than 50%. High titer convalescent plasma is an effective early outpatient COVID-19 treatment with the advantages of low cost, wide availability, and rapid resilience to variant emergence from viral genetic drift in the face of a changing pandemic.”
About health insurance
Medicaid Expansion May Be Associated with Lower Mortality Rates: “States that implemented Medicaid expansion saw reductions in all-cause mortality rates compared to nonexpansion states, a study from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) found…
Medicaid expansion states had lower mortality rates compared to nonexpansion states, the results revealed. All-cause mortality was 311 per 100,000 adults in expansion states and 365 per 100,000 adults in nonexpansion states. Expansion states also had 11 fewer deaths per 100,000 adults per year than nonexpansion states.”
About pharma
FDA approves first injectable HIV preventive, providing alternative to daily pill: “The injectable drug, Apretude, is given first as two injections one month apart and then once every two months. It was approved for use in ‘at-risk’ adults and adolescents weighing at least 77 pounds. Recipients are required to test negative for HIV before starting the drug and before each injection ‘to reduce the risk of developing drug resistance,’ the FDA said.”
More than 800 hospitals urge HHS to appeal controversial ruling in 340B lawsuit: “More than 800 hospitals are urging the Biden administration to appeal a federal court ruling that drugmakers have the power to restrict sales of 340B-discounted drugs to contract pharmacies.
The appeal comes as drugmakers are taking the Biden administration to court over its attempts to fine the companies for restricting sales to the contract pharmacies.”
About the public’s health
US population growth at lowest rate in pandemic’s 1st year: “U.S. population growth dipped to its lowest rate since the nation’s founding during the first year of the pandemic as the coronavirus curtailed immigration, delayed pregnancies and killed hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents, according to figures released Tuesday.
The United States grew by only 0.1%, with an additional 392,665 added to the U.S. population from July 2020 to July 2021, bringing the nation’s count to 331.8 million people, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The U.S. has been experiencing slow population growth for years but the pandemic exacerbated that trend. This past year was the first time since 1937 that the nation’s population grew by less than 1 million people.”
Life Expectancy in U.S. Declined 1.8 Years in 2020, CDC Says: “Final data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that Americans’ life expectancy fell 1.8 years to 77 years in 2020. The drop was 0.3 years more than that of provisional estimates released in July 2021 and remains the biggest life-expectancy decline since at least World War II.
Covid-19 was the nation’s third leading cause of death last year, behind heart disease and cancer, and was the underlying cause in about 351,000 deaths, the new figures show. Increases in mortality from unintentional injuries—which include drug overdoses—as well heart disease, homicide and diabetes also decreased life expectancy.”
Trends in Public Stigma of Mental Illness in the US, 1996-2018: “To date, this survey study found the first evidence of significant decreases in public stigma toward depression. The findings of this study suggest that individuals’ age was a conservatizing factor whereas being in the pre–World War II or millennial birth cohorts was a progressive factor. However, stagnant stigma levels for other disorders and increasing public perceptions of likely violence among persons with schizophrenia call for rethinking stigma and retooling reduction strategies to increase service use, improve treatment resources, and advance population health.”