WHO and the European CDC say that Europe may be entering another COVID wave. In the past, the US has lagged several weeks behind Europe in terms of new cases and hospitalizations. While I hope that won't happen on this go-round, there are no guarantees.
More on long COVID. An online survey of 1,487 people in East England who tested positive in 2020 found that 52.1 percent of them said they had had post-COVID syndrome symptoms. One predictor of who might have such symptoms was BMI. Another risk factor found was being a woman; men were at significantly lower risk for developing long COVID. The people who responded to the survey were 61 percent female, had a mean age of 50, and had a mean BMI of 28.4 (considered "overweight"). Only 11 of the people responding had gotten a first dose of vaccine. A Scottish study published in Nature Communications found that six to 18 months after infection, one out of every 17 people had not yet recovered from COVID, and 42 percent had only partially recovered.
Over 75 percent of pediatric hospital beds are full right now due to respiratory viruses. Children under the ago of five have been especially hard hit. Pediatric hospitalization with RSV is seven times higher than it was in 2018, the last full season before COVID emerged. Hospitalizations for flu are the worst in 10 years, and COVID cases are starting to rise. So far, there have been three deaths from RSV and 12 from the flu. Some physicians say that a national emergency should have been declared a month ago. The curves for new cases and hospitalizations have been described as "almost vertical." Flu test positivity is 30 to 35 percent; there is as yet no test for RSV. One theory is that COVID has weakened children's immune systems. It also does not help that the rate for flu vaccinations is low this year, while preventive measures such as (yes) masks and hand washing are not stressed to the extent they were in the early days of the pandemic.
It is not clear if the Chinese government is backing down on COVID. Additional restrictions have been eased but not stopped, and a Vice Premier downplayed the severity of Omicron. One economist noted that the Vice Premier's comment coupled with the easing of some restrictions sends "yet another strong symbol that the zero-COVID policy will end within the next few months." I wouldn't bet on that just yet, but it is certainly one possibility.
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