Medical Testing

New Covid variant Eris is reminder to monitor virus data, US experts say

Mon, 2023-08-14 23:10 — mike kraft

A new Covid-19 variant has become the dominant lineage of the virus in recent weeks in the US and while it should not be a cause of undue concern for the public, its emergence is a reminder of the need for greater surveillance of the virus and of the importance of vaccine boosters, according to infectious disease experts.

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COVID antiviral drugs shown to be effective, especially for older persons--new study

Mon, 2023-08-14 22:23 — mike kraft

Real-world study shows strong performance of COVID antivirals Focal Foto / Flickr cc CIDRAP

A new real-world study in Greece finds that for high-risk patients, COVID-19 antivirals are highly effective in reducing the risk of both hospitalization and death. The study is published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Patients who were older than 75, and reported good drug adherence benefitted the most from the drugs molnupiravir (Lagevrio) and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid)

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Advice: Delay getting next booster shot until new vaccines are available soon--NY Times

Fri, 2023-08-11 15:37 — mike kraft

Don’t Get Your Next COVID Booster Quite Yet An uptick in COVID-19 cases and the fast-approaching new school year have many people wondering when they should get their next booster. The short answer, according to experts: not quite yet — you will be a lot better off if you wait another month or two. In June, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration recommended that the next COVID vaccine formulation target the omicron XBB.1.5 variant. Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are now working to update, test and mass-produce their vaccines, Yahoo News

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Bivalent COVID booster protects against poor outcomes better than 1-strain 4th dose --study

Tue, 2023-08-08 16:33 — mike kraft

Bivalent COVID booster protects against poor outcomes better than 1-strain 4th dose Agência Brasília / Flickr cc CIDRAP

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Guidance on vaccinations, etc as summer Covid-19 cases increase

Mon, 2023-08-07 16:13 — mike kraft

As a summer wave of Covid-19 hits the US, questions about vaccines, quarantine and testing are back | CNN Covid-19 is on the rise again as the world approaches the fourth virus season since the coronavirus arrived on the scene. Amanda Musa CNN

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Scammers are billing people for COVID tests they did not order.

Mon, 2023-07-24 15:14 — mike kraft

Are you getting billed for COVID-19 tests you didn't order? Here's what you need to know Unsolicited COVID-19 tests are being sent to people with Medicare as part of a national scam. What should you do next and what resources are available? Gisselle Medina AOL

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Lower- income nations lacked adequate protection for health workers during COVID-19--survey

Wed, 2023-07-19 15:20 — mike kraft

Lower- income nations lacked adequate protection for health workers during COVID-19 Only 43% of healthcare facilities had sufficient personal protective equipment to comply with COVID-19 safety guidelines. CIDRAP

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Indications of a US COVID-19 uptick; more details of new vaccine rollout

Mon, 2023-07-17 14:41 — mike kraft

Early indicators hint at US COVID-19 uptick CIDRAP

Though COVID has held at very low levels late spring and into summer, some early indicators show signs of rising activity, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In other developments, the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) fleshed out more details about when the updated COVID-19 vaccine will roll out and how federal health officials will ensure that uninsured and underinsured people can receive their doses.

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US government tells vaccine makers to price updated COVID shots reasonably

Fri, 2023-07-14 14:37 — mike kraft

US government tells vaccine makers to price updated COVID shots reasonably COVID vaccine makers should price their updated shots for the fall at a reasonable rate that would reflect the benefits they received through government investments, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Thursday. Reuters Reuters

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Waste water analysis closely fitted trend of persons testing COVID positive--study

Wed, 2023-07-12 15:11 — mike kraft

Predicting COVID-19 Incidence Using Wastewater Surveillance Data, Denmark, October 2021–June 2022 Predicting COVID-19 Using Wastewater Surveillance Emerging Infectious Diseases journal

Analysis of wastewater is used in many settings for surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, but it remains unclear how well wastewater testing results reflect incidence. Denmark has had an extensive wastewater analysis system that conducts 3 weekly tests in ≈200 sites and has 85% population coverage; the country also offers free SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests to all residents. Using time series analysis for modeling, we found that wastewater data, combined with information on circulating variants and the number of human tests performed, closely fitted the incidence curve of persons testing positive

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