Covid-19 News and Discussions

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/covid-19-flu-new-brunswick-hazard-index-canada-respiratory-watch-feb-10-1.7113649

N.B's COVID-19 hazard index highest in Canada, says research group, as virus kills 2 more​

COVID activity remains moderate, flu activity down slightly, province's Respiratory Watch says​

Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon · CBC News · Posted: Feb 21, 2024 10:46 AM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

New Brunswick has the worst COVID-19 hazard index in Canada at 16.0. The next highest is Manitoba at 12.8, while Quebec has the lowest at 6.1. (COVID-19 Resources Canada)

New Brunswick's COVID-19 hazard index is the highest in the country and more than double the national average, according to researchers analyzing COVID data from across Canada, as the provincial government reported two more deaths from the virus and a week-over-week increase in hospitalizations.
The province's COVID-19 forecast for Feb. 17 to March 2 is 16, or "severe," data from COVID-19 Resources Canada shows.
Canada's score is 7.6, or "very high."
Both are decreasing, Tara Moriarty, co-founder of the group, posted on social media.
The hazard index is calculated from three equally weighted categories: mortality, current infections and spread, and health-care system impact.

Estimated 1 in 20 infected​

About one in every 20 New Brunswickers is infected, said Moriarty, an associate professor at the University of Toronto.
Across Canada, an estimated one in every 47 people are infected.
Compared to lowest point of pandemic in Canada, New Brunswick infections are about 26 times higher, Moriarty said.
Hospitalizations are about eight times, deaths are about 22 times higher, and long COVID, about 15 times higher.
Nationally, COVID infections are currently about nine times higher than the lowest point of the pandemic, hospitalizations, about five times higher, deaths, about 13 times higher, and long COVID, eight times higher.

COVID hospitalizations increase nearly 41%​

COVID-19 activity remains moderate, according to the province's Respiratory Watch report, released Wednesday instead of Tuesday, because of the long weekend.
"Most indicators (number of cases, percent positivity and number of outbreaks) decreased during the current reporting period," Feb. 4 to Feb. 10, it says.
CBC has requested an interview with Dr. Yves Léger, the province's acting chief medical officer of health.
The two New Brunswickers who died from COVID-19 during the reporting week were both aged 65 or older.

There were 31 New Brunswickers hospitalized Feb. 4-10, raising the total to 1,280 since the respiratory season began on Aug. 27. (CBC)
Their deaths raise the pandemic death toll to at least 1,011. The actual total is unclear because the province has counted only people who die in hospital as COVID deaths since September.
Thirty-one people have been newly admitted to hospital for or with COVID during the reporting week, according to the Respiratory Watch report. That's a nearly 41 per cent increase from the 22 people hospitalized in the previous report.
Four people required intensive care, down from five.

3 youths hospitalized​

Among those hospitalized are two children under age four and a youth aged five to 19.
The others include three people aged 20 to 44, four aged 45 to 64, and 21 aged 65 or older, the report shows.
Two COVID outbreaks have been confirmed by lab tests, both in nursing homes, down from eight.
There has also been a decrease in new COVID cases confirmed through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) lab tests, at 76, compared to 86. The province has limited PCR tests since April to people with a referral from a health-care provider, and for whom the result will directly influence their treatment or care.
The positivity rate — the percentage of PCR lab tests performed that produced a positive result — has dropped to six per cent, from seven per cent.
A total of 143,494 COVID-19 XBB.1.5 vaccines have been administered since since Oct. 4, according to figures from the Department of Health.

No flu deaths, 11 hospitalizations​

No deaths from the flu were reported between Feb. 4 and Feb. 10, according to the Respiratory Watch report, but the virus sent 11 people to hospital, including a child under four and a youth aged five to 19.
The other people hospitalized include two aged 20 to 44, one aged 45 to 64, and six aged 65 or older.
One person required intensive care, the one aged 45 to 64.
The previous week, 12 people were hospitalized and none were admitted to ICU.
"Influenza activity slightly decreased" during the reporting week, the report says.
Two lab-confirmed outbreaks have been reported, the same number as the previous week. One is in a nursing home and one in a facility described only as "other."

5 schools report 'influenza-like' outbreaks​

Five schools have "influenza-like illness" outbreaks, down from six. No information, such as the names of the schools, the number of cases and whether it's students or staff affected, has been released.
School outbreaks are based on 10 per cent absenteeism in a school because of influenza-like illness symptoms, the report says.
There have been 93 new flu cases confirmed by lab tests, with a positivity rate of eight per cent. That's down from 102 cases and a positivity rate of nine per cent.
The breakdown of the new cases includes 58 influenza A (unsubtyped), seven influenza A (H1N1) pdm09, and 28 influenza B.
These raise the total to 2,437 since the start of the respiratory season on Aug. 27.
There have now been 217,519 New Brunswickers vaccinated against the flu this season, the Department of Health says.

 

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www.theguardian.com

 

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NC health leaders release new RSV, flu, and COVID numbers​

 

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www.ft.com

Anti-viral protein found to be important long Covid indicatorDiscovery boosts efforts to develop ‘biomarkers’ for debilitating condition and enable treatmentsLong Covid has become a growing burden for public health systems since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic four years ago © Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty ImagesAnti-viral protein found to be important long Covid indicator on x (opens in a new window)Anti-viral protein found to be important long Covid indicator on facebook (opens in a new window)Anti-viral protein found to be important long Covid indicator on linkedin (opens in a new window)Savecurrent progress 100%Michael Peel in London YESTERDAY14Print this pageUnlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Scientists have linked high levels of an antiviral protein to long Covid, boosting efforts to detect the debilitating condition and develop therapies to treat millions of sufferers worldwide.Patients showed persistently elevated readings of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), which is associated with fatigue, aching muscles and depression, according to research published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday.The findings suggest the protein could be used to detect long Covid and investigated as a possible therapy for sufferers who report extreme fatigue.“The presence of interferon-γ could be used to diagnose long Covid in some patients,” said Benjamin Krishna, co-author of the paper and a Cambridge university researcher. “In addition, it could be targeted to then treat their symptoms.”Researchers have highlighted the need to find “biomarkers” for long Covid — biochemical changes that are a signature of the condition. A study published last month pointed to changes in the “complement system”, a group of proteins that help the body fight infections.Long Covid — defined as symptoms or conditions that last more than 12 weeks after initial infection with Covid-19 — has become a growing burden for public health systems since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic four years ago. Sufferers report an array of symptoms including acute fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive impairment or “brain fog”.The study followed patients from a long Covid clinic at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England, including cases from 2020. It tested the blood of 55 people who were experiencing symptoms — predominantly fatigue — at least five months after contracting Covid-19.The researchers found that Covid-19 infection triggered IFN-γ production by white blood cells — and this persisted in the long Covid patient cohort. More than 60 per cent of the sample group reported a reduction in at least some of their symptoms during the study, with their IFN-γ levels also falling.IFN-γ plays an important role in regulating the body’s response to pathogens. It is used clinically to damp infections in people whose immune systems have been compromised by chronic granulomatous disease, a genetic disorder that makes people susceptible to dangerous bacterial and fungal infections.The discovery of a biomarker to confirm the prevalence of long Covid would offer hope to patients who worry that their condition may be dismissed by doctors, scientists say.“When the clinic started, a lot of people didn’t even believe long Covid was real,” said Nyarie Sithole, who set up the Addenbrooke’s long Covid facility.RecommendedNews in-depthCoronavirus treatmentScientists grapple with long Covid puzzle as millions fall sickLong Covid’s causes are yet to be well established but is estimated to affect 5 per cent of people who contract the virus. It is associated with problems including abnormalities in vital organs, microclots, reduced serotonin and persistent levels of the Covid-19 virus.The Addenbrooke’s research is an “interesting study proposing a new mechanism for long Covid”, said Aran Singanayagam, a respiratory physician at Imperial College London. Evidence that IFN-γ levels fell as symptoms eased was a particular “strength” of the paper, said Singanayagam, who was not involved in the study.Further work would need to look at patients with a wider range of symptoms than fatigue since it seemed unlikely that a single mechanism such as raised IFN-γ “would be responsible for driving all forms of long Covid”, said Singanayagam.He also noted that the study did not confirm whether the protein was a “causal driver” of long Covid — and thus a good target for potential treatments.

 

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Two very rare Covid vaccine side-effects detected in global study of 99 million

Results confirm how uncommon known complications are as researchers confirm benefits from vaccines still ‘vastly outweigh the risks’

www.theguardian.com

Two very rare Covid vaccine side-effects detected in global study of 99 million​

Results confirm how uncommon known complications are as researchers confirm benefits from vaccines still ‘vastly outweigh the risks’

Natasha May
@natasha__may
Thu 22 Feb 2024 14.00 GMT

Two new but exceptionally rare Covid-19 vaccine side effects – a neurological disorder and inflammation of the spinal cord – have been detected by researchers in the largest vaccine safety study to date.
The study of more than 99 million people from Australia, Argentina, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand and Scotland also confirmed how rare known vaccine complications are, with researchers confirming that the benefits of Covid-19 vaccines still “vastly outweigh the risks”.

Researchers working as part of the Global Vaccine Data Network used deidentified electronic healthcare data to compare the rates of 13 brain, blood and heart conditions in people after they received the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine with the rate that would be expected of those conditions in the population before the pandemic.

The study confirmed with a high level of accuracy known links between mRNA (Pfizer and Moderna) vaccines and the rare side-effects of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (swelling of the thin sac covering the heart). It also confirmed Guillain-Barré syndrome (where the immune system attacks the nerves) and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (a type of blood clot in the brain) as rare side effects linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

But a new rare side-effect, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis – an inflammation and swelling in the brain and spinal cord – was also identified in the data analysis as being linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The findings were published in the international journal Vaccine on Friday.
Prof Jim Buttery, co-director of the Global Vaccine Data Network, said the finding prompted researchers to independently confirm the side-effect by completing a second study, this time analysing a separate dataset of 6.8 million Australians who received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Not only did the Australian study confirm acute disseminated encephalomyelitis as a rare side-effect, but the large amount of AstraZeneca-specific data also allowed them to detect a second new rare side-effect, known as transverse myelitis, or spinal cord inflammation.

Also published in Vaccine on Friday, the Australian study found the data translated to an extremely small risk of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis of 0.78 cases for every million doses, and 1.82 cases per million doses for transverse myelitis.
Buttery, who is also a senior research analyst with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia, said; “for rare side effects, we don’t learn about them until the vaccine has been used in millions of people”.
“No clinical trial can ever have the size to answer those questions and so we only find out those questions after a vaccine has been introduced.”

Buttery said the risk of myocarditis, is even higher with natural Covid infection than it is following vaccination.
Both conditions are serious but patients usually recover from them, he said.
Prof Julie Leask, a vaccine expert at the University of Sydney, said it’s important to keep these findings in perspective and that a Covid infection increases the risk of some of these rare conditions “much more than a vaccine” does.
She said the studies also confirmed that “our vaccine experts are paying attention to when vaccines lead to serious side-effects, and they’re acting on it”.
“Being confident in a system that will detect problems and address them, is a very important part of a robust vaccination program.”

 

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-health-to-lift-covid-19-immunization-requirement-1.7121990

Nova Scotia Health to lift COVID-19 immunization requirement for employees​

A spokesperson for Nova Scotia Health says requirement to submit proof of vaccinations ends Feb. 26​

Anjuli Patil · CBC News · Posted: Feb 22, 2024 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Nova Scotia Health and IWK Health are ending the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement for employees starting Feb. 26, 2024. (Robert Short/CBC)

Nova Scotia Health and IWK Health are set to lift a requirement for employees, new hires and on-site medical staff to submit proof of primary series COVID-19 immunization beginning Feb. 26, 2024.
In an email to CBC News on Wednesday night, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia Health said the decision was made "in response to evolving evidence regarding COVID-19, Omicron sub-variants, protection from vaccine and a review of vaccination policies across other jurisdictions."
NSH confirmed the change in policy after a letter to an employee was posted on social media earlier in the day. The letter advises the employee, on unpaid leave for not meeting the COVID-19 immunization requirements, they could return to work as of Monday.
The letter goes on to direct the employee to notify their manager of their intent to return or resign by March 15.
"They do not have to come back by then, they just need to contact their manager by this date to confirm their intentions," said spokesperson Lisa MacSween in an email.
"If there is no contact we will assume they are resigning their positions. Of course, each case will be assessed on a case by case basis."
The province had introduced mandatory vaccinations against COVID-19 for the health sector in November 2021. At the time, any health-care workers who hadn't received at least one COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 30 risked employment consequences like being placed on unpaid leave.
Prior to the vaccinations being mandatory, both Nova Scotia Health and IWK Health had reported the majority of their employees had been immunized against COVID-19, either fully or partially.

 

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Cause of long COVID brain fog could be from leaky blood vessels, study says

As of March last year, an estimated 1.9 million people living in private households in the UK - 2.9% of the population - were experiencing self-reported long COVID.

news.sky.com

Cause of long COVID brain fog could be from leaky blood vessels, study says​

As of March last year, an estimated 1.9 million people living in private households in the UK - 2.9% of the population - were experiencing self-reported long COVID.
By Dylan Donnelly, news reporter
Thursday 22 February 2024 14:05, UK

Imageic: iStock

Brain fog suffered by those with long COVID could be caused by leaky blood vessels, new research shows.
Scientists hold that catching coronavirus caused disruption in the blood-brain barrier of some victims, which they suggested could cause the cognitive issues seen in those battling the condition,

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and from research centre FutureNeuro analysed serum and plasma samples from 76 patients who were hospitalised with coronaviurus in March or April 2020, as well as from 25 people before the pandemic.
Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, showed that those with long COVID who had leaks in the blood-brain barrier had brain fog, while those without disruption did not.
Matthew Campbell, professor in genetics and head of genetics at Trinity and principal investigator at FutureNeuro, hailed the study for showing a possible cause of the condition.

"For the first time," he said, "we have been able to show that leaky blood vessels in the human brain, in tandem with a hyperactive immune system, may be the key drivers of brain fog associated with long COVID.
"This is critically important, as understanding the underlying cause of these conditions will allow us to develop targeted therapies for patients in the future."

"It also confirms that the neurological symptoms of long COVID are measurable with real and demonstrable metabolic and vascular changes in the brain," he added.

In their report, the team noted that "disruption is evident during acute infection and in patients with long COVID with cognitive impairment", but said that it is unclear how "function is affected in these conditions".

From September: Long COVID patient: 'I lost my identity'
The British Heart Foundation, citing a University College London study, has noted that blood-vessel leakage into surrounding tissue is common in many inflammatory diseases.

Those suffering with the condition have reported many different effects, but recurring symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, problems with memory and thinking, and joint and muscle pain have regularly been reported.
Any of these symptoms, which last for more than 12 weeks after infection, can be considered long COVID.
As of March last year, an estimated 1.9 million people living in private households in the UK - 2.9% of the population - were experiencing self-reported long COVID, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and from research centre FutureNeuro analysed serum and plasma samples from 76 patients who were hospitalised with coronaviurus in March or April 2020, as well as from 25 people before the pandemic.
Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, showed that those with long COVID who had leaks in the blood-brain barrier had brain fog, while those without disruption did not.
Matthew Campbell, professor in genetics and head of genetics at Trinity and principal investigator at FutureNeuro, hailed the study for showing a possible cause of the condition.

"For the first time," he said, "we have been able to show that leaky blood vessels in the human brain, in tandem with a hyperactive immune system, may be the key drivers of brain fog associated with long COVID.
"This is critically important, as understanding the underlying cause of these conditions will allow us to develop targeted therapies for patients in the future."

 

[Yommie]

Novavax resolves Gavi dispute over COVID-19 vaccines

Novavax has resolved a potentially expensive battle with Gavi, opening up a pathway for the company to get out of the red.

ca.finance.yahoo.com

Novavax resolves Gavi dispute over COVID-19 vaccines​

Anjalee Khemlani
·Senior Reporter
Thu, February 22, 2024 at 11:09 a.m. EST·3 min read

Novavax (NVAX) has resolved a battle with global nonprofit vaccine alliance Gavi that could have resulted in a single hit of up to $700 million this year over undelivered COVID-19 vaccine doses during the pandemic, the company said Thursday.
The announcement boosted the company's stock by more than 15% in early trading Thursday, reaching a high of $5.30 early in the session. But Novavax's stock is down nearly 90% over the past five years as a result of its missed COVID efforts.
The resolution is a return of a portion of the original $700 million amount charged to Gavi during the pandemic in advance of what was expected to be a total order of $2 billion in COVID-19 doses during the pandemic.
Instead, Novavax will now repay $80 million per year until the end of 2028, for a total of up to $400 million. In addition, Novavax will get an annual vaccine credit in the same amount for Gavi to acquire doses of any vaccine for low- and lower-middle-income countries.
"Use of the annual vaccine credit for qualifying sales would reduce Novavax’s annual cash obligation. In addition to the annual obligation, Novavax will provide an additional vaccine credit of up to $225 million, should there be additional demand, which can be applied towards qualifying dose purchases of any of the company’s vaccines in such countries throughout the five-year term," Novavax said in a statement.

Novavax logo on a smartphone screen in front of COVID-19 virus images. (AP/STAR MAX) (STRF/STAR MAX/IPx)
Novavax CEO John Jacobs told Yahoo Finance the news should bring relief as the company had maintained the liability on its balance sheet last year, which had worried investors.
"This agreement is a complete resolution of the outstanding financial matter," Jacobs said.
Both Novavax and Gavi have new leaders at the helm since the original agreement was penned in 2021, and both entities are looking to the future as a result.
Jacobs said that includes having brought down the company's expenses and a pathway to new revenues in two years.
"We have about two more seasons we're anticipating being a standalone COVID company," Jacobs said.
The company expects its combination COVID-flu vaccine to launch in 2026, which presents market opportunity in the US and abroad. In addition, a malaria vaccine created in part with a Novavax ingredient licensed to the Serum Institute of India — and recommended for use by the World Health Organization — is expected to be a steady revenue source for the company through royalties.
In order to set the company up to achieve this, there has been cost-cutting to refocus the company away from its pandemic failure in the past year, Jacobs said.
"We've reduced about a billion dollars out of our operating expenses," he said, noting that included a 30% reduction in head count from a year ago.
"We've cleaned up a lot of the one-time liabilities that were concerning, and rightfully so, to investors. We've made the company a lot more lean," he added.

 

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Covid-19 vaccine that targets new strains available next month

Pharmac says it has secured stock of the new vaccine.

www.rnz.co.nz

Covid-19 vaccine that targets new strains available next month​

11:04 am on 22 February 2024

Photo: 123RF

A Covid-19 vaccine that can fight newer strains of the virus will be rolled out from next month.
Pharmac's director of pharmaceuticals Geraldine MacGibbon said the drug funding agency had approved the transition to the updated Covid-19 vaccine for the XBB.1.5 strain from 7 March.
"We've secured stock of the XBB Covid-19 vaccine and are pleased to have it available for New Zealanders. The XBB vaccine is more effective against more recent subvariants of Covid-19 in New Zealand."

The vaccine will be free to these eligible groups:​

• everyone aged 30 years and over
• people aged 16-29 who are pregnant
• people aged 12-29 at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19

The director of public health for Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Nick Chamberlain urged anyone who was eligible to get vaccinated.
Covid-19 was not a seasonal illness and cases had risen over summer, he said.
"If you're eligible, you can get a vaccination if it's been at least six months since your last Covid-19 vaccine or if you have never had one before. It's recommended that you wait at least six months since your last Covid-19 infection."

Those particularly at risk of severe illness included:​

• people aged 65 and older
• Māori and Pacific people aged 50 and older
• residents of aged care facilities
• severely immunocompromised people or others with medical conditions that make them vulnerable to complications

 

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Violence, anxiety in students as young as 5: Marks of the COVID generation

In part two of this series, experts discuss reports of students struggling and teachers being physically attacked in the aftermath of school closures during the pandemic.

www.smh.com.au