SARS-CoV-2/COVID related discussion

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Why did so few children get sick from COVID? Yale School of Medicine knows why​

 

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COVID-19: Pregnancy and Vaccines​

 

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Kids’ susceptibility to seasonal viruses may protect them from COVID-19

A new study finds that frequent viral and bacterial infections in children boost nasal immune defenses, which may have helped protect kids from severe COVID-19.

news.yale.edu

Kids’ susceptibility to seasonal viruses may protect them from COVID-19​

A new study finds that frequent viral and bacterial infections in children boost nasal immune defenses, which may have helped protect kids from severe COVID-19.
By Mallory Locklear
july 1, 2024
4 min read

(© stock.adobe.com)
Any parent of young children can tell you kids are more susceptible to common colds than adults. But a new study suggests that susceptibility to a variety of respiratory infections may be part of what protected children from severe COVID-19.
In a new study, Yale researchers found that the presence and preponderance of respiratory viruses and bacteria in children’s noses was associated with stronger nasal immune responses, which, they say, could be part of why kids were less likely to get severe COVID-19 during the pandemic.
The findings were published July 1 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, children have been, somewhat puzzlingly, less affected than adults. Researchers have been trying to understand why this might be. Over the last couple of years, several studies have shown that children have stronger nasal activation of their innate immune response — a broad, general anti-infection defense system — than do adults, with or without SARS-CoV-2 infection.
“The prior studies showed that there was something different about kids in terms of having better defenses at the barrier where the virus tries to penetrate the body,” said Ellen Foxman, associate professor of laboratory medicine and immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine and senior author of the study. “But the unanswered question was, why do kids have better defenses?”
To better understand what drives heightened nasal immune responses in children, researchers collected over 600 nasal swabs that had been administered to children with and without respiratory symptoms in 2021 and 2o22. Those swabs had been used to test children for COVID-19 prior to elective surgeries or as part of COVID-19 screening in the emergency department. The samples were frozen at the time and recently used to examine other nasal infections and innate immune responses.
For the new study, researchers tested the swabs for 15 additional respiratory viruses and three types of bacteria that can cause respiratory illness. They also tested for proteins that indicate innate immune activation.
In samples from the summer of 2021 and from January 2022, respiratory viruses were found in about one-third of children, and bacteria in one-fourth to one-third of children. In June and July 2021, common cold viruses were found most often, whereas during the Omicron surge in January 2022, SARS-CoV-2 was the most frequent virus detected. However, many other viruses and bacteria were also detected in children’s noses during both seasons. Rates were highest in the youngest children, with 90% of symptomatic children and about half of asymptomatic children under the age of five testing positive for viruses, bacteria, or both.
“We also found that heightened innate immune defenses directly correlated with the type and amount of microbes in the nose,” said Foxman. “So for kids that had viruses in their noses, the antiviral defenses were heightened. And the more virus they had in their noses, the higher those antiviral defenses were.”
Children with disease-causing bacteria also showed heightened antibacterial immune defenses.
Overall, the findings showed that increased nasal innate immune defenses in children were a reaction to the viruses and bacteria present, said Foxman.
To better understand if nasal defenses change over time in the same child, the researchers also swabbed the noses of 20 one-year-olds during healthy well child check-up appointments and then re-swabbed them one to two weeks later.
Of the 20 children tested, only four children had no virus detected in either sample. Many children had viruses detected in one sample but not the other.
“We could see that the change in viral load corresponded to the change in antiviral defenses in the same child across the two tests,” said Timothy Watkins, a graduate student in Foxman’s lab and the lead author of the study. “Our results show that children are getting mild or sometimes asymptomatic infections quite often, leading to heightened barrier defenses.”
Innate immunity is the broad, non-specific defense system that protects against many different pathogens that enter the body. Adaptive immune responses, such as antibodies, are those that the body develops over time, and they protect against specific pathogens the body has been exposed to in the past.
Adults have been exposed to common seasonal respiratory viruses quite a bit over their lifetimes and have, therefore, developed antibodies against many of them that prevent specific infections. But that’s not the case for children who have had fewer prior exposures. This is one of the reasons common cold viruses cause more infections in young children, leading to nasal innate immune responses being triggered more often.
“However, when SARS-CoV-2 came into our population, no one had prior exposure,” said Foxman. “We hypothesize that heightened nasal innate immune responses in children due to other common childhood infections helped protect them from severe COVID. This is one of the differences between children and adults which may have contributed to reduced severity in kids during the pandemic.”
Going forward, Foxman and her colleagues aim to better understand how patterns of innate immune activation in children influence responses to different types of childhood infections and vaccines.
Other authors include Alex Green, Julien Amat, Nagarjuna R. Cheemarla, Katrin Hänsel, Richard Lozano, Sarah N. Dudgeon, Gregory Germain, Marie Landry, and Wade Schulz.

 

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COVID cases keep rising in L.A. County due to FLiRT; Mayor Karen Bass tests positive

The latest daily tally of new coronavirus cases is the highest since February, when the winter peak was falling. And it's an undercount.

www.latimes.com

COVID cases keep rising in L.A. County due to FLiRT; Mayor Karen Bass tests positive​

Despite a recent increase in coronavirus cases, fewer people are masking now — including most of these guests at UCLA’s graduation in June.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
By Rong-Gong Lin IIStaff Writer
July 1, 2024 Updated 6:11 AM PT

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COVID-19 cases are continuing to climb in Los Angeles County, as are the number of people hospitalized with infections, as the typical summer surge in the illness creeps up.
Among those recently testing positive for the coronavirus was Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, whose office disclosed the result Friday morning, shortly before she spoke at a press conference virtually, through Zoom. The mayor first tested positive for the virus in June 2023.
The rise of COVID in California comes as levels of coronavirus in the state’s wastewater remain high, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

COVID levels in California’s wastewater remain high​

Weekly wastewater viral activity level
Line chart shows COVID levels in wastewater. For the week ending on June 22, the California level is 5.94, considered high. Nationwide, the level is low at 2.59.
California

U.S.












Viral activity level categoriesVery high High ModerateLow MinimalLatest data is for the week ending on June 22.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Sean Greene
LOS ANGELES TIMES

Doctors have noted an earlier-than-normal rise for this time of year, beginning in May in L.A. County. The midyear rise in county COVID cases and hospitalizations didn’t begin until early July in 2021 and 2023, though in 2022 it started in early May.
For the week ending June 23, the most current data available, reported cases averaged 215 per day, up from 154 the prior week. A month before that — for the week that ended May 26 — an average of 83 cases a day were reported.
The official tally is an undercount, as it includes only tests done at medical facilities. The tally does not reflect positive at-home tests or take into account that far fewer people are tested once they’re sick. But the tallies are still helpful in detecting trends, such as when COVID is on the upswing.
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The latest count shows the most new coronavirus cases per day since February’s tally, as the virus’ winter peak was trending down. The peak rate in the winter was 621 cases a day; last summer, it was 571 cases a day.
The rate at which COVID tests are coming back with positive results is swinging up across California. For the week that ended June 24, 9% of tests showed positive results; a month earlier, the positive rate was 3.4%. Last summer’s peak rate was 13.1%.
New subvariants of the coronavirus, labeled FLiRT, are increasingly edging out the previous dominant strain of the virus.
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The new FLiRT subvariants, officially known as KP.3, KP.2 and KP.1.1, are believed to be roughly 20% more transmissible than their parent, JN.1, the winter’s dominant subvariant, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious-disease expert at UC San Francisco, has said.
For the two-week period that ended June 22, the most recent information available, 62.9% of estimated COVID specimens in the U.S. were of the FLiRT variants — up from 45.3% a month earlier.
Despite their increased transmissibility, the new mutations do not appear to result in more severe disease.

CALIFORNIA

There’s a new highly transmissible COVID-19 variant. Could FLiRT lead to a summer uptick?​

May 10, 2024
Coronavirus-positive hospitalizations also are ticking upward. For the week that ended June 22, there were an average of 153 patients in L.A. County hospitals per day, up from 138 the prior week. Last summer’s peak was an average of 620 patients per day, and the winter’s was 825.
The share of emergency room visits related to the coronavirus is also up. For the week ending June 23,
2.1% of ER visits in L.A. County were coronavirus-related; a month before that, the number was 1.2%. Last summer, that share peaked at 5.1% toward the end of August.
Despite those upticks, coronavirus levels in L.A. County wastewater have remained largely stable of late. For the week that ended June 15, the most recent data available, coronavirus levels in sewage were at 17% of the 2022-23 winter peak. That’s slightly up from the 15% the previous week, which was an increase from 13% the week before. But the week before that, the level was 16%.
Last summer saw coronavirus levels in L.A. County wastewater reach a high of 38% of the peak from the winter of 2022-23.
A number of places in California have seen rising coronavirus levels in wastewater. Santa Clara County, Northern California’s most populous, continues to report high coronavirus levels in a swath of Silicon Valley, from San Jose to Palo Alto.
Fourteen states, including California, are showing high or very high coronavirus levels in their wastewater. California is among nine states with high levels, along with Arkansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. The five states with very high levels of coronavirus in sewage are Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.
COVID death rates have remained stable in L.A. County. For the week that ended June 4, the most recent information available, the county’s average was fewer than one COVID death a day.
Summer surges in the virus typically coincide with an increase in travel and group gatherings. And with the majority of the population having long ditched their masks, the chances for infection are higher. Further increasing the likelihood of infection is the fact that most people who have been vaccinated are far removed from their last COVID-19 booster shot.
Across California, 36.2% of seniors have received at least one dose of the updated COVID vaccine since September, when it was introduced. Just 18.3% of adults ages 50 to 64 received an updated vaccine in that time; among younger adults, up to age 49, only 9.7% have done so.
The CDC says everyone ages 6 months and older should have gotten at least one updated shot since September, or two shots for seniors 65 and older who are four months out from their first updated dose.
People who are immunocompromised can get an additional updated shot two months after the last recommended dose, and can speak with their healthcare providers about whether further doses are needed.
A new updated formula for the COVID vaccine is expected in the fall. On Thursday, the CDC recommended that after the vaccine comes out, perhaps starting in September, everyone 6 months and older should get the updated 2024-25 version of the vaccine.
“Our top recommendation for protecting yourself and your loved ones from respiratory illness is to get vaccinated,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a statement. “Make a plan now for you and your family to get both updated flu and COVID vaccines this fall, ahead of the respiratory virus season.”

 

[Yommie]

High burden of viruses and bacterial pathobionts drives heightened nasal innate immunity in children​

 

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Summer wave of Covid in England: how worried should I be?

With evidence that infections are on the rise, we look at the so-called FLiRT variants, and assess the risks

www.theguardian.com

Summer wave of Covid in England: how worried should I be?​

With evidence that infections are on the rise, we look at the so-called FLiRT variants, and assess the risks

Nicola Davis Science correspondent
Tue 2 Jul 2024 18.03 BST

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What’s the current situation?​

Getting a true picture of the prevalence of Covid is tricky given that few people now test for infection.
In addition, the Winter Covid infection survey, run by the Office for National Statistics and UK Health Security Agency, has ended.
However, evidence suggests that levels are rising. According to the latest data from UKHSA, Covid hospitalisations in England for the week of 10 June rose to 3.31 per 100,000 from 2.67 per 100,000 in the previous week.
Covid intensive care unit admissions have increased slightly – albeit from a low starting point – while the proportion of people testing positive for Covid based on swabbing offered at particular GP practices has also risen.
“It’s obviously harder currently to collate definitive data on infections, but there seems to be consensus that we are in a period of rising breakthrough infections and hospitalisations,” said Prof Danny Altmann of Imperial College London.
“This is certainly a subject of ongoing concern and need for vigilance, not least in respect of advice on booster uptake for the vulnerable.”

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What Covid variants are circulating in the UK?​

The virus behind Covid has undergone a host of mutations since it first appeared. At present, the dominant group of subvariants in the UK are all descended from the JN.1 variant that took off during the winter, which is itself related to Omicron.

These subvariants have been informally named “FLiRTs in reference to the mutations they contain, with members of the group including KP.2, KP.3 and JN.1.7.1.
Since very few Covid swabs are being collected, and hence few genetic sequences obtained, it can take longer to identify the arrival, spread and impact of new variants than was the case at the height of the pandemic.
While data is limited, UKHSA has said at present there is no sign these sub-variants, including KP.3, are more dangerous than other forms of the virus.

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What is causing the new wave?​

While it is possible that both waning immunity and evasion of the immune system by current Covid variants could play a role in the rise, Altmann said the extent to which these factors were contributing was unclear.
Prof Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia noted that given that much of the data was collected in healthcare settings, most reported cases tended to be in older or vulnerable people.
“I suspect increases in this age group are due to falling levels of sterilising immunity, especially given that the uptake of the spring booster in people over 75 years old was little more than 60%,” he said.

But Hunter said younger people could also be at risk of infection. “In people who were infected over winter, sterilising immunity would be falling by now, and in people who had not had an infection then or since, there would be relatively little sterilising immunity left,” he said.

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How concerned should we be?​

The good news is that the rate of Covid hospitalisations is still below what it was last winter, while Hunter said the severity of infections now is much lower for most people than was the case even a year ago.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t grounds for concern. Data shows that in the week ending 14 June, 152 deaths in England and Wales involved Covid, and 100 were due directly to Covid.
“So although Covid infections are now relatively trivial for most people, some – and particularly the over-75 age group – are still suffering from severe disease. That is why the spring booster was still important for this age group,” said Hunter.
While the spring booster programme ended on 30 June, vaccinations are available privately – although they come with a hefty price tag.
Experts added that people should continue to take precautions. “If you are showing symptoms of Covid-19 or flu, help protect others by staying at home and avoiding contact with other people, especially those who are more vulnerable. If you do need to leave home, consider wearing a mask,” said Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal, a consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA.
“It’s all about trying to strike an informed balance in how we now live our lives,” said Altmann. “We’re far from the terror of an unvaccinated, vulnerable population in 2020, but your FLiRt infection can still lay you really low for a week, carries a significant risk of leading to long-term, disabling long Covid, or could have a significant impact if you or the next person you infect is in a highly vulnerable group. We’re far from a state where this is ‘just like a cold’ and should just be ignored.”

 

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Summer COVID surge: What's happening in NYC​

 

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A closer look at the summertime 2024 COVID increase​

 

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Ohio seeing slight uptick in COVID-19 cases​

 

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Why some people seemed immune to Covid-19?​

 

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COVID-19 surges across the U.S. over the summer​

 

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Medical expert weighs in on rising COVID cases, testing window changes​

 

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Ways to Manage Fatigue After COVID-19 | GoodRx​

 

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Common Cold protecting kids from effects of COVID​

 

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COVID-19 cases rising with new 'FLiRT' variant​