Much of this morning's coronavirus news was yesterday's CDC announcement of relaxed covid guidelines. There is still much to learn about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's search of the home of the most recent ex-president; latest word is that they were looking for nuclear documents. Segue to midday today and Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the neck as he prepared to give a talk. As I type, he's been taken to a hospital, his condition unknown. The person who did the stabbing is in custody. The fatwa ordering his death for blasphemy was issued in 1989.
On to the coronavirus. One expert noted that the most notable change in the CDC guidance is what is not there. There is no guidance on how any surges should be handled or at what point should mitigation measures such as masks be reinstated. As noted yesterday, some guidance did not change. A person who tests positive should still isolate for five days, stopping when symptoms have improved and any fever has been gone for two days. After re-emerging, the person should spend five more days wearing a properly fitting mask. People living in counties with high levels of covid transmission should wear masks in public indoor settings.
In terms of long covid, I read a source noting that some people had significant health issues for years after infection with SARS-1. It's not clear if we will ever know the full extent of the long covid some SARS-2 patients are facing.
Moderna hopes, within the next five years, to develop a single annual dose to cover coronavirus, influenza, and another common respiratory virus. The company is also studying personalized cancer vaccines and a monkeypox vaccine.
There could be hundreds or even thousands of polio cases in New York given the quantity of viral material found in wastewater in and outside New York City. Many polio cases are asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic and are easy to miss. Canada meanwhile will start wastewater testing "as soon as possible."
Finally, some scientists are calling the Langya henipavirus a mere tip of the iceberg when it comes to zoonotic diseases passed from animals to humans. There is no evidence yet that Lanya is spreading human-to-human, something I hope continues. Seventy percent of emerging infectious diseases worldwide are thought to be animal-to-human transmission. A virologist at the University of Hong Kong says that continued study "is important so that we are not taken unawares by the next pandemic, when--not if--it comes."
"When" it comes ... I hope it's not already here.
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