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www.salon.com

What’s different about this summer’s FLiRT COVID wave

COVID could be a staple of summer, experts say
www.salon.com www.salon.com

What’s different about this summer’s FLiRT COVID wave​

COVID could be a staple of summer, experts say​

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Senior Writer

PUBLISHED JULY 30, 2024 5:30AM (EDT)​

Used surgical mask thrown on the sand of a beach (Getty Images/nito100)
Used surgical mask thrown on the sand of a beach (Getty Images/nito100)
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It’s not only a so-called “brat summer,” 2024 is also turning out to be a FLiRT summer — as in the collection of COVID-19 variants driving the latest summer wave.

Based on wastewater sample data, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention reports that COVID levels have increased in most states nationwide. In fact, nationally the CDC labels wastewater viral activity level for COVID is currently labeled as “high,” with the Western and Southern regions displaying the most alarming levels of activity. Wastewater testing — or collecting samples of pathogens in our feces — is the current standard to monitor the national and regional spread of COVID. According to the CDC, the summer started with a steady decline in cases caused by the JN.1 variant. But now, KP.3, KP.3.1.1., and KP.2, known as the “FLiRT variants” have increased. KP.3 ranks most prevalent as of July 20 and makes up an estimated 32.9% of cases across the country.

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But experts tell Salon despite the so-called surge, this year’s COVID-19 spread is a bit different for a variety of reasons.

“I think we're in a summer COVID bump,” William Schaffner, a professor of infectious disease at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Salon. “Unlike influenza, which essentially disappears during the summer, COVID is different — it sticks around.”

Influenza is “the one-humped camel,” Schaffner elaborated. But COVID is the “two-humped camel.” Indeed, this isn’t the first time COVID has made a splash in summer. August 2021 marked the COVID comeback, as did a surge in summer 2022 and then there was 2023’s “hot COVID summer.”

“We've had this summer increase in COVID every summer since COVID has been around, and it's expected to occur,” Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told Salon. “But each year it becomes more manageable because there are more tools to deal with COVID, and more immunity in the population that keeps COVID primarily as an outpatient illness with minimal impact on the healthcare system.”

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It’s notable, both experts said, that COVID has a dual seasonality — unlike flu or other coronaviruses. In terms of why this is happening, Adalja said it’s a reflection of the fact that the spike protein of the virus is mutating “pretty aggressively” compared to other respiratory viruses, which means it’s rapidly creating new variants.

“This is still evolving, it has a lot of selection pressure on it from the human immune system, and that may be part of why we see this double seasonality,” Adalja said. “Also, as people are going indoors when it’s really hot, the virus transmits more efficiently.”

However, it is too early to say if this is a permanent seasonal trend, he said.

Regarding what to expect during this summer’s “bump,” symptoms are more or less the same as previous summer outbreaks. Schaffner said if a person has a runny nose, sore throat, and a cough, it’s probably a good idea to get a COVID test. If someone tests positive in a high-risk group, such as people over the age of 65 or those are who immunocompromised, they should tell their doctors right away. Paxlovid, the antiviral treatment to treat COVID-19, will likely be prescribed. President Joe Biden, who is 81, took Paxlovid to fight his recent COVID-19 infection.

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But overall, cases this summer are more “mild,” Schaffner said.

“These infections are milder and don't require hospitalizations, even though they make you feel crummy for three or four days,” he said. “I think that both the public and many practitioners have a more relaxed approach to COVID now, but when it comes to these high-risk people, I think the onus is more on those individuals.”

Schaffner added while there has been an uptick in hospitalizations for COVID this summer in some parts of the country, most of the cases are older people, who have underlying medical conditions, diabetes, and are immunocompromised.

“These are all folks who, even if they had received their updated vaccine last fall, their protection now is waning,” Schaffner said. “So if they get infected with the virus, these high-risk people are more likely to require hospitalization, and that's what's happening.”

Despite all this, experts have previously raised alarm bells about the variant KP.3 because it appears to be more immune evasive than other circulating lineages. Adalja said the FLiRT variants are descendants of Omicron and that they are evolving “in response to the level of immunity in the population.” But this could just be a moment in time for the FLiRT variants, as another variant will likely outpace them.

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“The FLiRT variants may eventually give way to new variants that are able to outcompete them,” Adalja said.

For people who are concerned about this summer’s wave, Schaffner said the same precautions as before are effective today: wear masks indoors and stay up to date with vaccines.

“Masks are not perfect, but they are literally another layer of protection for people in those high-risk groups,” he said.
 

Summer wave of COVID-19 cases has yet to subside in Oregon​

Oregon health officials say the variant that's spreading is very contagious, but not as severe as the original virus that was first detected over four years ago.


Oregon seeing summertime spike in COVID cases


Author: Devon Haskins
Published: 7:43 PM PDT July 30, 2024
Updated: 7:43 PM PDT July 30, 2024

PORTLAND, Ore. — In the state of Oregon, COVID cases are once again on the rise. Though the state reports nearing a summer peak of cases, health officials said the good news is that cases aren't rising at an alarming rate like we've seen before.
"Four and a half years into this, no one wants to be talking about COVID, but here we are," said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, Oregon's top health officer. "Welcome to summer and welcome to COVID. There's plenty of things we can do to protect ourselves, but right now there's plenty of COVID circulating in our community."

Dr. Sidelinger said that the virus now spreading is a variant of the omicron virus that was discovered more than three years ago. This summer, state health officials are also seeing a spike in cases of FLiRT variants, a series of variants named after the technical names for their particular mutations.
"These omicron variants have proven to be very contagious, but also (do) not cause more severe disease — and that our vaccine, which was developed before the current omicrons variant came out, is still offering some protection in the short term." Sidelinger said.
Health officials are using various means to track the virus these days, including testing wastewater to determine how prevalent the virus is and what strain of the virus is spreading. Sidelinger said that the state isn't seeing a rise in hospitalizations due to the virus spreading, but said positive test results have been trending upward for the last few weeks. He said 11.8% of all tests recently are coming back positive.
"In that sense, it's good that we're not seeing an increase in hospitalizations, but we know that people who have not been vaccinated and perhaps people who have never been sick before can still get fairly sick," Sidelinger said.
In southwest Washington, Clark County's health department said that they, too, have seen an increase in cases recently, but said that things have started to slow down.
Sidelinger said it may be a few more weeks before things slow down in Oregon, going into the fall.
"The indicators of COVID spread in Oregon, as they are in many other states particularly on the West Coast, are still going up, but they're not going up at a very fast rate. So, hopefully we will start to see a peak and then a coming down over the next several weeks."
In the fall, the CDC expects to release an updated COVID-19 vaccine for everyone ages 6 months and older.
 
www.cp24.com

'Incredibly disappointing': Ontario halts wastewater testing for COVID, other viruses

Ontario is officially ending its COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program today in a move some public health experts call shortsighted.
www.cp24.com www.cp24.com

'Incredibly disappointing': Ontario halts wastewater testing for COVID, other viruses​

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A man collects sewage samples from the dorms at Utah State University Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, in Logan, Utah. Ontario is ending its COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program on July 31. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Rick Bowmer

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Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, July 31, 2024 5:38AM EDT
Ontario is officially ending its COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program today in a move some public health experts call shortsighted.

Dr. Fahad Razak, the former scientific director of the COVID-19 Ontario Science Table, says the province's decision is "incredibly disappointing."

Razak says wastewater testing gives an early indication of when COVID-19 and other viruses are on the rise.


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Razak says the wastewater surveillance in dozens of communities across Ontario is useful not only for detecting COVID, but for monitoring potential threats, including the possible arrival of H5N1 avian flu.

Ontario's environment ministry says it is "winding down" its program as the Public Health Agency of Canada expands its wastewater surveillance sites in the province.

But a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada says it only plans to test in four Ontario cities in addition to its four existing sites in Toronto, which won't duplicate the provincial program.

"The scope of the expansion would not replace the current scope of the Ontario program," Anna Maddison said in an email Tuesday evening.

"Ontario’s decision to not continue their wastewater testing program was not co-ordinated with PHAC’s decision to expand its wastewater monitoring program."

Alex Catherwood, press secretary for the Ontario minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, said in an email that the provincial government "will work with the federal government and propose sampling sites that provide quality data for public health across the province."

The additional federal wastewater surveillance is expected to begin before flu season this fall, Maddison said.

Razak, who is an epidemiologist and internal medicine specialist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, said many communities now won't have the virus monitoring they need.

”(Wastewater surveillance) provides information fast enough for you to act. So knowing that you have lots of COVID cases in hospital, that's too late to act in many ways," he said.

"We now know that the signal from wastewater — not just for COVID, but for example for RSV — it provides an early warning system when the disease is emerging, which gives enough time for individuals to change their decision-making or (for) public health units or officials to react."

The wastewater testing sites covered nearly three-quarters of Ontario's population in 2023, Razak said, and also included some targeted monitoring of COVID-19 levels in high-risk places such as long-term care homes or homeless shelters.

"To me this is a significant equity issue," he said.

"This is moving in exactly the opposite direction of what we want in the best of public health programs."


This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
 
www.theguardian.com

Australian swimming camp hit by Covid as medal hope Lani Pallister tests positive

Australian swimmer Lani Pallister has withdrawn from the 1500m freestyle at the Paris Olympics after testing positive for Covid
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Australian swimming camp hit by Covid as medal hope Lani Pallister tests positive​


Kieran Pender in Paris
Tue 30 Jul 2024 10.32 BST
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Australia’s Lani Pallister has withdrawn from the women’s 1500m freestyle after testing positive for Covid, the Australian Olympic Committee announced an hour before her anticipated heat swim on Tuesday.

Pallister won bronze in the long distance event at the 2022 world championships, but opted to withdraw from the Paris 2024 race in the hope of recovering in time for Australia’s 4x200m freestyle relay on Thursday. The Dolphins are strong favourites in that event, after Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus won gold and silver in the individual 200m freestyle on Monday night.



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The 22-year-old’s withdrawal leaves Moesha Johnson as the only Australian in the 1500m race; Johnson will also swim in the 10 kilometre open water marathon swimming later in the Games.

The AOC’s announcement has sparked fears of a growing Covid risk on the pool deck, after British swim star Adam Peaty tested positive on Monday less than 24 hours after winning silver in the 100m breaststroke.

Pallister is not the only Australian Olympian to go down with Covid in Paris – several members of the women’s water polo team, the Stingers, tested positive on the eve of the Games.

Chef de mission insisted that the Australian team was taking a different approach to Covid than three years ago, when the Tokyo Olympics were held amid the height of the pandemic.

“This is a high-performance environment, so we are being diligent,” Meares said at a press conference last week. “But I need to emphasise we’re treating Covid no differently to other bugs like the flu – this is not Tokyo.”

The Dolphins have taken a precautionary approach, though, wearing masks in crowded environments. It is not believed Pallister’s positive test will lead to significant protocol changes within the Australian team.
 

Mapped: COVID summer continues to heat up​

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COVID-19 wastewater viral activity levels​

As of July 26, 2024

No dataMinimal or lowModerateHighVery high
A map showing COVID-19 wastewater viral activity levels by U.S. state. As of July 26, 2024, 37 states are showing high or very high levels of activity, 10 states are showing moderate levels, two states are is showing minimal or low levels, and 2 states are not reporting data.


Data: CDC; Map: Axios Visuals
The summer's COVID-19 wave is continuing, with the latest wastewater surveillance data detecting "high" virus activity levels across the majority of the U.S. and "very high" levels in 19 states, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Why it matters: The virus is especially prevalent across the western U.S. and the South, in particular a region that includes New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, where test positivity topped 23%, per agency data.
  • Test positivity is also elevated — to nearly 18% — in the region composed of California, Nevada and Arizona.
Between the lines: Almost 80% of circulating variants are KP variants, which are descendants of the highly contagious JN.1 strain that surged over the winter and are among the so-called FLiRT variants.

Threat level: COVID-19 cases have risen in the U.S. every summer since the pandemic began.

  • Hospitalizations remain low. However, the virus still poses a risk to the elderly and immunocompromised.
  • The FLiRT variants have been on the rise globally as well, sparking recent international health warnings for travelers headed to Greece, as well as Malta, Belgium and Ireland.
  • It's also loomed over the Paris Olympics, with several athletes testing positive in the first few days of the games.
 

Can you still get COVID tests for free?​

by Addy Bink - 07/30/24 5:21 PM ET
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(NEXSTAR) — The U.S. is seemingly still facing a summer wave of COVID-19 infections, with test positivity rates at or above 10% in nearly all of the country, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

If you’re experiencing any COVID-like symptoms — which may feel different than those you’ve experienced before — you may find yourself reaching for those free COVID tests you received via mail as part of a federal program.


The last day you could order those tests, however, was early March, which means any tests you have from the program’s various distribution waves may have since expired. While some tests may have extended expiration dates from the Food and Drug Administration, past-date tests may produce inaccurate results.

Why your COVID symptoms may feel different with this wave of infections
So if you’re stuck with an outdated test, and don’t have any more, can you get more for free?

Ultimately it depends on whether or not you have insurance.

Since the free federal COVID test program ended in March, there’s been no indication it will be restarted again.

Those who are uninsured, however, may qualify for free COVID testing through the Increasing Community Access to Testing (ICATT) program. According to the CDC, those without insurance who are experiencing COVID symptoms or were exposed to COVID are eligible for the no-cost testing, which is available at more than 22,000 sites throughout the country, which include CVS and Walgreens stores.

If you meet that criteria, you can find a no-cost COVID testing site near you using the CDC’s website. This program is, however, set to end on December 31, according to the CDC.


If you are insured, you may not have a no-cost option at all.

While insurers were briefly required by the Biden administration to either provide you tests for free or reimburse you for COVID tests, that mandate has since expired.

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In some cases, however, insurers may still cover the cost of your over-the-counter COVID tests, a COVID test ordered by your healthcare provider, or both, but it will depend on your individual plan.


Walgreens recommends contacting your insurance provider before ordering COVID tests through its pharmacy. A claim will also be submitted to determine whether the cost is covered, or if you’ll owe a copay. The retailer notes that even if your plan provides coverage, you may be limited in the number of tests you can get in a month.

If your insurance won’t cover your COVID tests, you may be able to pay for them using HSA or FSA funds, CVS notes.

Medicare no longer covers or pays for over-the-counter COVID tests for those with Medicare Part B benefits. Those on Medicare Part B “usually pay nothing” for COVID diagnostic tests that are ordered by a Medicare-enrolled doctor or healthcare provider. Medicare Advantage Plus may, however, charge copayments, deductibles, or coinsurance for clinical COVID lab tests, according to Medicare.gov.


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If you’re insured through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, over-the-counter and laboratory COVID testing will still be covered through the end of September. After that, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says, “coverage of testing may vary by state.”

Your access to free COVID tests may also vary depending on where you live. In California, for example, those enrolled in Medi-Cal can receive up to eight free tests a month, according to the state’s health department. Most insurance plans in the state will pay or reimburse members for the same number of at-home test kits each month.

Before you buy any at-home COVID testing kits, health officials recommend purchasing those approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
 

COVID-related deaths and hospitalizations increase in Maine​


 

Oregon seeing summertime spike in COVID cases​


 
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