Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: COVID cases, omicron, whom Paxlovid benefits & more
In the United States, over 94 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic as of Friday, Aug. 26, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Additionally, more than 1 million people in the U.S. have died. Worldwide, there have been more than 599 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including about 4 million in the past week, and over 6.4 million people have died.
Almost 224 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated as of Aug. 26 — 67.4% of the population — and over 108 million of those have gotten their first booster shot, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Most people in the country, about 72%, live in a location where COVID-19 community levels are considered medium and high, the agency says as of Aug. 26. Masks are advised in high-level regions.
About 27% of Americans reside where COVID-19 levels are considered low, according to the CDC.
The omicron BA.5 subvariant dominated U.S. cases for the week ending Aug. 20 and made up 88% of COVID-19 cases, agency data estimates show.
Here’s what happened between Aug. 21 and 26.
Who benefits from taking COVID antivirals? What a study on Paxlovid found
There are a couple COVID-19 antiviral treatments out there, but that doesn’t mean everyone who takes them will benefit the same.
Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill regimen is one preferred COVID-19 antiviral treatment in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health. It’s meant for patients 12 and older who have a mild to moderate COVID-19 infection and are at risk of developing severe disease.
In a new study, Paxlovid showed no benefit for adults below 65 years of age when it came to preventing severe COVID-19 outcomes such as hospitalization in death, according to the findings published Aug. 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine
However, for adults 65 and older, hospitalization and death rates were notably lower in patients who took Paxlovid compared with those who didn’t, the study conducted in Israel notes.
Continue reading below:
Who benefits from taking COVID antivirals? What a study on Paxlovid found
Here are new changes to cruise ship COVID-19 rules as unvaccinated passengers now allowed
The biggest changes to public health protocols on cruise ships since cruising restarted last summer are taking effect in early September, when most cruise lines leaving from U.S. ports will allow unvaccinated passengers. Many of them also are loosening coronavirus pre-boarding testing requirements.
Consumers planning cruise vacations should be sure to closely read the pending new rules for individual cruise operators. Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention backed away from regulating cruise ships this year, individual cruise companies have made their own policies, causing confusion among some travelers.
We compiled a list of the new COVID-19 rules for the most popular global cruise lines.
Keep reading here:
Here are new changes to cruise ship COVID-19 rules as unvaccinated passengers now allowed
98 seconds with the doctor: Treating fatigue and breathlessness in COVID long-haulers
New long-hauler COVID-19 symptoms are continuing to be reported and they’re more common in females, and possibly in younger patients, too, according to a Cleveland Clinic doctor.
To find out two common symptoms, keep reading here:
98 seconds with the doctor: Treating fatigue and breathlessness in COVID long-haulers
California woman sues Kaiser, says health insurer illegally charged her for COVID-19 test
A California-based law firm filed a class-action lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente, saying the health care giant is billing its members for COVID-19 tests despite mandates prohibiting those charges during the federal public health emergency.
The law firm Seeger Devine said in the lawsuit that Kaiser member Faye Getubig requested only a COVID-19 test in June 2022 but that Oakland-based performed a multiplex test for COVID-19 and two strains of influenza.
Kaiser then sent Getubig a bill showing the cost of all the tests was $536 and requesting she pay $310 of the total fee, the legal complaint stated. Getubig insisted the test should have been free, according to her suit, but Kaiser continued to pursue payment.
For more, read here:
California woman sues Kaiser, says health insurer illegally charged her for COVID-19 test
COVID relief aid could save NC principals from $18,000 pay cuts this year
North Carolina State Superintendent Catherine Truitt announced a plan to use federal COVID-19 relief money to help protect hundreds of principals from deep pay cuts this year.
Truitt said 15% of North Carolina’s principals could lose $7,200 to $18,000 in pay over a full year due to a change in how state lawmakers are calculating compensation. Truitt wants the State Board of Education to use federal COVID-19 aid to cover any pay that those 360 principals would lose this upcoming school year.
“Principals were given a monumental load during the pandemic, as they were tasked with leading our schools in the midst of ever-changing circumstances that included students and teachers shuffling in and out of quarantine while classrooms alternated between virtual and in-person,” Truitt said in a statement.
For more, keep reading:
COVID relief aid could save NC principals from $18,000 pay cuts this year
Jill Biden has ‘rebound’ COVID-19 case, president negative
First lady Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 again in an apparent “rebound” case, after she tested negative for the virus over the weekend.
President Joe Biden, who spent three days with his wife at their Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, vacation home, continues to test negative, the White House said. He also suffered a rebound case this month after an initial recovery from the coronavirus.
Jill Biden first tested positive for the virus on Aug. 15, when she and her husband were vacationing in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. She isolated in the beach town until she received two negative tests and was cleared to meet the president in Delaware on Sunday.
For more, read here:
Jill Biden has ‘rebound’ COVID-19 case, president negative
This report contains reporting from McClatchy News’ Anna Jean Kaiser, David Caraccio, Cathie Anderson and T. Keung Hui, as well as the Associated Press.
