COVID-19 Update

First - It looks like we're going to be dealing with some pretty nasty shit regarding Long COVID. And there's a strong probability that each new wrinkle will come as a bit of an unpleasant surprise.

WaPo: (freebie)

Covid infection associated with a greater likelihood of Type 2 diabetes, according to review of patient records

People who had covid-19 were at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes within a year than those who managed to avoid the coronavirus, according to a large review of patient records released Monday.

The finding is true even for people who had less severe or asymptomatic forms of coronavirus infection, though the chances of developing new-onset diabetes were greater as the severity of covid symptoms increased, according to researchers who reviewed the records of more than 181,000 Department of Veterans Affairs patients diagnosed with coronavirus infections between March 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021.

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WaPo: (pay wall)

Biden pushes new normal amid worries about next covid surge —and who is left behind

Plan may get its first stress test if the U.S. sees the same sharp increases in cases bedeviling Europe.

Cathy Colledge, who has Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, feels like she’s on her own trying to avoid a coronavirus infection that might kill her.

New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention telling 99 percent of Americans living in counties labeled green or yellow that they can safely go without masks puts the onus on her to protect herself, whether she goes to the grocery store or travels to Florida to see her grandchildren.

“I want to move on, too,” said Colledge, 70, of Salt Lake City. “It’s kind of confusing for me because I feel like, ‘What about me? Why am I safer now than I would’ve been, I don’t know, three months ago?’ ”

The unsettling answer for Colledge is that her risk continues to be dangerously high because of her illness, even though transmission of the coronavirus has dropped significantly. That means she must now do a risk-benefit calculus for every journey outside of her home. But for many other Americans, there was palpable relief on Feb. 25, when the CDC shifted the vast majority of U.S. counties from red, signaling high transmission, to green, meaning low levels of disease and no need to mask indoors.

The changes were based on a new framework designed to protect communities from the worst, a surge so big that it might overwhelm local hospitals, while being less disruptive to everyday life, amid falling case counts and a desire among many for relief from masking and other public health measures. But some worry it leaves the country unprepared for another wave and abandons those who are most vulnerable.

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And then, as usual, congress critters (ie: Republicans) are dragging their feet, making it more probable that we'll get caught with our pants down again next time - which is actually just the next round of this time.

WaPo: (pay wall)

White House officials say U.S. has exhausted funds to buy potential fourth vaccine dose for all Americans

As a congressional stalemate stretches into its third week, officials warn it will hurt pandemic readiness

The Biden administration lacks the funds to purchase a potential fourth coronavirus vaccine dose for everyone, even as other countries place their own orders and potentially move ahead of the United States in line, administration officials said Monday.

Federal officials have secured enough doses to cover a fourth shot for Americans age 65 and older as well as the initial regimen for children under age 5, should regulators determine those shots are necessary, said three officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail funding decisions. But the officials say they cannot place advance orders for additional vaccine doses for those in other age groups, unless lawmakers pass a stalled $15 billion funding package.

“Right now, we don’t have enough money for fourth doses, if they’re called for,” White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said on a forthcoming episode of “In The Bubble With Andy Slavitt,” which was recorded Monday and shared with The Washington Post. “We don’t have the funding, if we were to need a variant-specific vaccine in the future.”

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