Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: COVID reinfections, cases, fake vaccine cards & more
In the United States, more than 86 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic as of Saturday, June 25, according to Johns Hopkins University.
To date, more than 1 million people in the U.S. have died. Worldwide, there have been more than 543 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including about 3 million cases since one week ago.
Additionally, over 6.3 million have died from the virus globally. Roughly 222 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated as of June 23 — about 67% of the population — and 105 million of those have gotten their first booster shot, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Roughly 90% of the U.S. lives in a location with low or medium COVID-19 Community Level, the agency says as of June 24. About 10% of Americans reside in an area with a high COVID-19 Community Level. For them, it’s recommended to wear a mask while indoors in public.
Omicron and its subvariants dominated all positive U.S. cases for the week ending June 18.
Here’s what happened between June 19 and June 24.
Keep getting COVID? Each time increases the risk of health complications, study finds
For those who catch COVID-19 more than once, each reinfection may increase the risk of health complications, according to a new study published as a preprint.
The increased risks were seen in both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals, including those who had gotten a booster dose, study authors from the Washington University School of Medicine and VA Saint Louis Health Care System wrote in their research, which is under review by Nature Portfolio, that was published June 17.
The work, titled “Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection,” found that after every COVID-19 reinfection, there was a higher risk of death, hospitalization and lasting health consequences from the virus, including on the lungs and throughout the body, according to the study.
“Risks were lowest in people with 1 infection, increased in people with 2 infections, and highest in people with 3 or more infections,” authors wrote after setting out to address whether reinfections add to “health risks associated” with an initial infection.
For more on the study, keep reading below:
Biden visits clinic, celebrates COVID shots for kids under 5
President Joe Biden visited a vaccination clinic Tuesday to celebrate that virtually all Americans can now get a COVID-19 shot after the authorization of vaccines for kids under 5.
Biden visited a vaccination clinic in Washington, where some of the first shots were given to young children in the last major age group ineligible for vaccines, hailing it as an important pandemic milestone that will support the country’s recovery. While anyone aged 6 months and up is now eligible for vaccines, the administration is cautioning that it expects the pace of shots for the youngest kids to be slower than older ones, as parents are more likely to rely on their children’s pediatricians to administer them.
“The United States is now the first country in the world to offer safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months old,” Biden said at the White House.
Continue reading here:
NC hospitals made record profits during pandemic with taxpayer dollars, report says
North Carolina’s largest health care systems made record profits during the pandemic thanks to billions of dollars in relief funds, according to a report from the Department of State Treasurer.
Seven health systems — Duke Health, UNC Health, Novant Health, Atrium Health, WakeMed, Vidant Health and Cone Health — reported $5.2 billion in net profits in 2021, the report says. All but one had higher net profits than before the pandemic.
Together, those health systems accepted $1.5 billion in federal relief funds and $1.6 billion in advanced payments for future procedures from Medicare, often at the expense of rural hospitals in need, the report says.
The article continues below:
Commentary: Vaccine disruptions and mistrust are ramping up measles risk
Pandemics have consequences beyond the death and disease directly caused by the novel pathogen. In the 1918 influenza pandemic, more deaths were caused by the pneumococcal bacterium among those made susceptible to bacterial infection by influenza than by the flu itself.
One potential byproduct of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic is the threat of an old scourge: measles. In the United States, two doses of measles vaccines are recommended for all children. These doses are usually administered as the measles, mumps and rubella combined vaccine. The first dose is given at 12 to 15 months of age, and the second dose at 4 to 6 years of age. Schools in all states require measles vaccination for entry, though they allow various medical or nonmedical exemptions.
But early in the pandemic, there were substantial disruptions to routine non-COVID vaccination — including fewer children coming to vaccination appointments, and fewer students enrolling in kindergarten, meaning they skipped the requisite vaccines. Many children who missed their recommended doses still haven’t received them.
The article continues below:
South Carolina nurse pleads guilty to lying about making fake COVID vaccination cards
A 53-year-old Columbia, South Carolina, nurse pleaded guilty in federal court to lying to federal agents about whether she had produced phony COVID-19 vaccination cards for non-vaccinated people.
“How do you plead to this charge?” U.S. Judge Terry Wooten asked the nurse, Tammy McDonald, director of nursing at a PruittHealth skilled nursing facility.
“Guilty,” replied McDonald, standing beside her lawyer, Jim Griffin.
Lying to a federal agent is a felony with a five-year maximum prison sentence.
Evidence in the case showed that McDonald had produced the phony cards last June at a family gathering and again in July to help “various family members,” assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Shoemake told Wooten.
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This report also contains reporting from Zeke Miller, Josh Boak, Teddy Rosenbluth, Saad B. Omer, and John Monk.
This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 4:05 AM with the headline "Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: COVID reinfections, cases, fake vaccine cards & more."
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