Category: Corona Virus

COVID-19 caused an alarming surge in premature births, but vaccines were key to returning the early birth rate to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis of California birth records.

The effect of maternal COVID infection from the onset of the pandemic into 2023 is large, increasing the risk of preterm births over that time by 1.2 percentage points, says Jenna Nobles, a University of WisconsinMadison sociology professor. To move the needle on preterm birth that much is akin to a disastrous environmental exposure, like weeks of breathing intense wildfire smoke.

But the first two years of the pandemic alone were far worse for many pregnancies, according to findings Nobles and co-author Florencia Torche, a Stanford University sociology professor, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Jenna Nobles

The virus that causes COVID-19 endangers pregnancies by causing immune and inflammation responses, and via deterioration of the placenta. One consequence is early interruption of the pregnancy and birth well in advance of the end of the expected 39- to 40-week gestation.

As the virus spread from July to November of 2020, the likelihood that a mother with COVID-19 in California would give birth more than three weeks before the due date was 5.4 percentage points higher than anticipated 12.3% instead of 6.9% according to the new study.

The researchers measured the impact of the pandemic with the help of birth records for Californias nearly 40 million people, using information on birth timing and the comparison of sibling births to help control for the pandemics disparate impacts on different demographic groups. They found the excess risk of preterm birth fell slightly in early 2021 before dropping steeply in 2022, at which point maternal COVID-19 infection in pregnancy caused no excess risk of preterm birth for infants.

Vaccines contributed to that decrease, the researchers say, an effect that jumps out when the birth records are divided up geographically.

In ZIP codes with the highest vaccination rates, the excess risk of preterm birth declines much faster. By summer 2021, having COVID-19 in pregnancy had no effect on preterm birth risk in these communities. It takes almost a year longer for that to happen in the ZIP codes with the lowest vaccine uptake, Nobles says. That highlights how protective COVID vaccines have been. By increasing immunity faster, early vaccination uptake likely prevented thousands of preterm births in the U.S.

Preterm birth is associated with a host of short- and long-term health problems and deficiencies for the children and their families. Its the leading contributor to infant mortality, and cutting short development in the womb can require additional medical attention that costs, on average, more than $80,000 per child. Preterm birth by even just a few weeks reduces expected educational attainment, health and earnings as an adult.

And we found similar increases, of about 38%, in the risk of very preterm birth that is pre-32 weeks when a child is likely to need neonatal intensive care, with the possibility of developmental delays and serious implications for their families as well, Nobles said.

The evidence showing the positive effects of vaccination in preventing premature births could help allay some of the most prominent concerns voiced as COVID-19 vaccines became available to pregnant patients.

One big contributor to vaccine hesitancy is that people are worried about safety for the fetus and about the ability to get pregnant, Nobles says. We already know there is very little evidence of adverse effects of vaccination on fetal development. The results here are compelling evidence that what will actually harm the fetus isnotgetting vaccinated. Thats a message practitioners can share with concerned patients.

The results should be a compelling argument in favor of getting vaccinations and boosters, according to the researchers, even after COVID-related premature birth risk ebbed in California.

This is still an evolving epidemic, and the rate of vaccine boosters among pregnant people right now is very low, Nobles says. The question is, how many more iterations of viral evolution does this need to escape the immunity that we have? Its miraculous and incredible that were now down to essentially zero additional preterm births, but it does not indicate that its going to be that way in perpetuity.

This research was supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF2049529) and the National Institutes of Health (R21 HD105361-01).

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Study: Spike in premature births caused by COVID, halted by vaccines - University of Wisconsin-Madison

As Australia grapples with a fresh wave of COVID-19 heading into Christmas, new Australian research is adding to a growing body of evidence showing the debilitating effects of long COVID for some patients.

A peer-reviewed study, by doctors at Wollongong Hospital and researchers at the University of Wollongong, found almost 67 per cent of 339 COVID-19 patients surveyed were experiencing symptoms three months after contracting the virus.

One year on from the infection, almost 45 per cent of participants were still reporting symptoms.

READ MORE: Australia spent almost $48 billion on its response to COVID-19

"Long COVID has definitely left a scar on a significant number of people," the study's lead author, Dr Stuart Tan, who is a trauma and rehabilitation specialist at Wollongong Hospital, said.

The research project started with a small number of participants in the early stages of the pandemic in July 2020 and grew in size to include patients from across Australia with a cross-section of COVID-19 variants taking part.

It was published yesterday in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) Journal of Internal Medicine.

The study's findings show a higher prevalence of long COVID in participants than some previous research.

The latest COVID-19 strain spreading across the world

A literature review of long COVID conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in December last year showed the prevalence of patients still suffering symptoms at three months ranged from 8 per cent to 17 per cent in studies from the UK.

One limitation of the Australian study, noted in the research article, was the potential for selection bias, where people experiencing symptoms may be more likely to enrol and continue to participate.

The results of research into the rates of long COVID varied considerably depending on the design of the study, Tan said.

However, his study's results were consistent with one systematic review of almost 10,000 patients which found 73 per cent had at least one persistent COVID-19 symptom, Tan said.

READ MORE: Top doctor rejects return of key pandemic mandate

Fatigue was by far the most common symptom experienced by chronic long COVID sufferers, while respiratory problems tended to ease over time, the study found.

The study confirmed previous research which has shown women appear to be more susceptible to long COVID than men.

Tan said one surprise finding was the marked difference between male and female participants in his study at the three-month post-infection mark - with women being two-and-a-half times more likely to report symptoms than men.

Wollongong man Ben, who asked for his surname to be withheld for privacy reasons, is one of the participants in the study.

Ben, 30, spent a month in a coma at Wollongong Hospital fighting for his life after contracting COVID-19 in June last year - despite being double vaccinated for the virus.

Ben, his wife Samantha and their three-month-old daughter all tested positive to COVID-19 at the same time.

"We had normal symptoms for the most part, but then on day five I woke up and I was kind of delusional," Ben said.

"It hit Sam when I couldn't remember our daughter's name."

"He started deteriorating so quickly," Samantha said.

"He couldn't form actual words. They were jumbled; he thought he was saying something - but it was literally gibberish."

Shortly after arriving at the emergency department, Ben had a seizure.

Doctors diagnosed Ben with having COVID-19-induced encephalitis.

"He was getting quite agitated," Samantha said.

"He didn't know what COVID was. He thought everyone was lying to him, making it up and he was trying to Google it."

Ben's condition continued to deteriorate and he was put in an induced coma. He then suffered a cardiac arrest.

Although doctors managed to revive Ben, they told Samantha to prepare for the worst.

"I got a phone call at 2am telling me to come in and say goodbye," she said.

"His body was just flooded with toxins and his muscles started breaking down.

"The doctors said they'd never seen numbers that high and that he was definitely going to pass, so prepare yourself.

"His whole body just started swelling up like a balloon."

Surgeons performed eight fasciotomies on Ben's legs and right arm, cutting into the muscle compartment to relieve the pressure and debriding his dying muscles.

"They said we're not sure if he'll ever walk again because they took so much muscle," Samantha said.

Ben was in a coma for four weeks and ICU for six weeks before his condition improved enough for him to be moved to the general wards of the hospital.

However, there was another major setback when Ben's skin began to turn yellow and doctors realised he was going into liver failure.

A liver transplant appeared to be the only option, but doctors did not think he would survive the surgery.

Ben's weight had plummeted to 56 kilograms and he was fitted with a nasal feeding tube to help him ingest as many calories as possible.

He also continued working hard with his physio to regain his strength.

"It was a race against the clock because at any point his liver could just completely stop functioning," Samantha said.

Ben was eventually approved for the liver transplant two-and-a-half months later, in October last year.

However, further health complications meant he was not able to have the surgery until February this year.

The young dad surprised doctors with his quick recovery after the transplant, Samantha said.

"He was home in 13 days - on the day of our daughter's first birthday."

However, after months of slowly recovering from the traumatic ordeal, things took another turn for the worse when Ben was re-infected with COVID-19 two months ago.

Ben immediately went into kidney failure and is now undergoing dialysis treatment three times a week.

Doctors have said he will likely need a kidney transplant.

Samantha said she and her husband were constantly being told how rare his body's extreme reaction to COVID-19 was.

"We've had doctors come in and say it's like you have been struck by lightning 600 times - it is just unheard of," she said.

Doctors are now conducting genetic tests on Ben in a bid to understand what appears to be an autoimmune response to the virus.

Samantha said her husband was the last person she expected to develop complications from COVID-19.

"He was 29 when this happened, the fittest person that I know in my life, the healthiest person I know in my life."

Tan said while it was extremely rare for patients to have such a severe reaction to COVID-19 as Ben, his research had shown, contrary to perceptions, it was a virus affecting "not just the lungs".

"We are all familiar with its effect on the lungs, but COVID is a complex illness that can affect multiple organs in the body, including the liver, pancreas and kidneys," he said.

Tan said one positive that could be taken from his research was that it affirmed the protective effect of vaccines.

"The study shows that vaccination does have a protective effect in both reducing the risk of development of long COVID and symptoms and also speed up recovery if you do suffer from symptoms of long COVID," he said.

The findings should be kept in mind as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Australia on the back of the latest wave, which has prompted recent warnings from NSW Health.

"On the basis of this study, there's definitely an advantage in getting boosters, and ensuring that one is fully vaccinated," Tan said.

Although many participants in the study were plagued by persistent symptoms of long COVID, it was apparent that things did get better, he said.

"Long COVID symptoms do improve over time, and for the long COVID sufferers in our community, there is light at the end of the tunnel with appropriate management," he said.

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'Not just the lungs': Ben spent four weeks in a coma and needed a liver transplant after contracting COVID-19 - 9News

Suffolk County reported the following information related to COVID-19 on November 27, 2023

According to CDC, hospital admission rates and the percentage of COVID-19 deaths among all deaths are now the primary surveillance metrics.

COVID-19 Hospitalizations for the week ending November 18, 2023

Daily Hospitalization Summary for Suffolk County From November 27, 2023

NOTE: HOSPITALS ARE NO LONGER REPORTING DATA TO NYSDOH ON WEEKENDS OR HOLIDAYS.

Fatalities 11/27/23

COVID-19 Case Tracker November 25, 2023

Note: As of May 11, 2023, COVID-19 Community Levels (CCLs) and COVID-19 Community Transmission Levels are no longer calculatable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* As of 4/4/22, HHS no longer requires entities conducting COVID testing to report negative or indeterminate antigen test results. This may impact the number and interpretation of total test results reported to the state and also impacts calculation of test percent positivity. Because of this, as of 4/5/22, test percent positivity is calculated using PCR tests only. Reporting of total new daily cases (positive results) and cases per 100k will continue to include PCR and antigen tests.

COVID-19 Vaccination Information

Last updated 5/12/23

Vaccination Clinics

As of September 12, 2023, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services is not authorized to offer COVID-19 vaccines to ALL Suffolk County residents.

The department will offer the updated vaccine to only uninsured and underinsured patients through New York State's Vaccines for Children program and Vaccines for Adults program, also known as the Bridge Access Program.

Those with insurance that covers the COVID-19 vaccine are encouraged to receive their vaccines at their local pharmacies, health care providers offices, or local federally qualified health centers.

The department has ordered the updated COVID-19 vaccine and will announce when the vaccine becomes available.

FOR HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS

New York State Links

CDC COVID Data Tracker Rates of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations by vaccination status

For additional information or explanation of data, click on the links provided in throughout this page.

Read more here:

COVID-19 update 11-28-23 - Suffolk County Government (.gov)

U.S. District Judge Terence C. Kern sentenced Lauren Michelle Owen, 40, of Jenks, to 27 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. In January, Owen pleaded guilty to bank fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. Judge Kern further ordered Owen to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution.

Lauren Owen engaged in multiple fraudulent schemes, including taking advantage of her employers kindness solely to enrich her luxurious lifestyle at the expense of others, stated U.S. Attorney Clinton Johnson. This sentencing and restitution will show criminals that fraudulent schemes will not go unpunished.

Miss Owen thought stealing from the government would be a victimless crime, but the money set aside for COVID relief was designed to help small businesses stay open through the pandemic, said Christopher J. Altemus Jr., special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigations Dallas Field Office. Miss Owens actions kept money out of the hands of others who would have used it to pay employees and keep their businesses open, as it was intended. Instead, she used it and other illegal financial activities to elevate her lifestyle. CI and our partners have ensured she has been held accountable for her actions.

According to court documents, in 2010, Lauren Owen was hired by her employer as a secretary. She gained the trust of her employer and was eventually promoted to vice president and sole financial officer. Owens duties included handling the financial books and records for the company, paying bills and preparing checks for legitimate business expenses, overseeing payroll, hiring and firing personnel. She would make unauthorized checks to herself, payments on her personal credit cards, and unauthorized wage payments to herself from her employers accounts. These fraudulent transactions totaled more than $750,000 loss to her employer.

After losing her job, in November of 2021, Owen devised a plan to defraud the Small Business Association (SBA) after Congress passed the CARES Act in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and economic crisis. She falsified an application for a loan, on behalf of Platinum Assets, LLC, a company she owned and controlled. She lied on the application stating that shed never been criminally charged, when in fact she had previously been arraigned in state court for embezzlement. She falsely signed and certified the application that the information she provided was true and correct, to the best of her knowledge. After approving the loan, the SBA deposited more than $384,000 in Owens bank account whereafter Owen improperly misapplied the loan proceeds by purchasing a 2018 Chevrolet Corvette, a 40-foot yacht and paying off a loan on a 2018 Ford F-250.

From 2016 through 2020, Owen further attempted to evade substantial income tax from her misconduct. She failed to report her extra, illegal income she was received from her embezzlement. Owen admitted that she tried to hide her income by making unauthorized transactions. She knew reporting her income correctly would leave her owing more than $61,000 in unpaid taxes and agreed to pay the IRS an additional $67,800 in other unpaid taxes.

Owen was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility at a later date.

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney David D. Whipple prosecuted the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the departments response to the pandemic, please visit justice.gov/coronavirus and justice.gov/coronavirus/combatingfraud.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justices National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form

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Jenks Woman Sentenced and Ordered to Repay More than $1.2 ... - Department of Justice

A study published in PNAS describes the impact of maternal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection on infant health and the importance of vaccination in mitigating negative health outcomes in infants.

Study:Vaccination, immunity, and the changing impact of COVID-19 on infant health. Image Credit:Andrii Vodolazhskyi/Shutterstock.com

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has mostly and severely affected elderly people, immunocompromised patients, and those with comorbidities. However, growing evidence suggests that the virus can negatively impact maternal and infant health.

During pregnancy, in utero exposure of infants to SARS-CoV-2 may lead to significant intergenerational health consequences. New viral variants that have emerged throughout the pandemic may have a distinct effect on infant health.

On the other hand, immunity developed from previous SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 vaccination may protect infant health.

In this study, scientists have explored the changing impact of maternal COVID-19 on preterm birth and the protective efficiency of COVID-19 vaccination in mitigating this effect.

The impact of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy on preterm birth risk was investigated in this study using population-level data on maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection and the linked population-level data on infants born between 2014 and 2023 in birth facilities in California, US. The general population of this state accounts for approximately 12% of all births in the US.

Being the main predictor of infant morbidity and mortality in the US, preterm birth influences long-term markers of well-being, including educational and socioeconomic status.

Considering its significance in population health, intergenerational health, and socioeconomic disparities, preterm birth was selected as a marker of infant health in this study.

The analysis of the average impact of maternal COVID-19 on preterm birth over the period of 2020 to 2023 revealed that maternal infection at the time of delivery can increase the risk of preterm birth by 29%.

This estimation was obtained after adjusting for potential birth facility confounders (differences in COVID-19 testing protocols, labor and delivery protocols, and socioeconomic status of patients) and time-of-birth confounders (trends in COVID-19 infection and temporal changes in testing shared across facilities).

A separate set of analyses conducted after adjusting for a wide range of observed maternal sociodemographic and risk factors revealed a 15% increase in the risk of preterm birth if the mother has SARS-CoV-2 infection at the time of delivery.

Over time, a gradual change in COVID-19 health impact has been observed throughout the pandemic.

This could be because of changing infectivity and pathogenicity of new viral variants, as well as the development of herd immunity from previous SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 vaccination.

Analysis of the changing impact of maternal COVID-19 over time revealed a 78% increase in the risk of preterm birth during the earliest phase of the pandemic (July 2020 to December 2020).

A fluctuation in the preterm birth risk due to maternal COVID-19 was observed during the delta variant-dominated wave in 2021. A complete disappearance of the health impact of maternal infection was observed in 2022, including the period of the omicron-dominated wave.

In California, around 70% of the entire population was vaccinated against COVID-19 by March 2022. However, a significant variation in vaccine uptake rate was observed across the state. While vaccination rate of 86% was achieved in some regions, it reached a maximum of only 51% in some regions.

The comparison of the impact of maternal COVID-19 based on vaccination rates revealed that the negative infant health impact of COVID-19 completely disappeared almost a year earlier in regions with the highest vaccine uptake compared to the regions with the lowest vaccine uptake.

The study finds that maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy can increase the risk of preterm birth, which is associated with many long-term health adversities in infants.

The study also highlights the protective effects of COVID-19 vaccines in mitigating harmful consequences associated with maternal COVID-19.

The largest impact of maternal infection on preterm birth was observed during the earliest phase of the pandemic. This highlights the absence of anti-COVID-19 immunity in the general population because of the unavailability of therapeutics and vaccines.

With increasing vaccine uptake, an initial decline and subsequent disappearance of the impact of maternal infection was observed. This highlights the potential protective efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination.

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COVID-19 in pregnancy tied to higher preterm birth risk; early ... - News-Medical.Net

Vials labelled "VACCINE Coronavirus COVID-19" and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed Novavax logo in this illustration taken December 11, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing Rights

Nov 28 (Reuters) - Novavax's (NVAX.O) updated vaccine has been granted emergency-use authorization by the World Health Organization (WHO) for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 in individuals aged 12 and older, the company said on Tuesday.

The updated Novavax shot, which was authorized in the U.S. last month, targets a descendant of the XBB lineage of the coronavirus that was globally predominant earlier this year.

The emergency use listing helps speed up the regulatory approvals to import and administer the vaccines by member states, according to the WHO.

Novavax missed out on the COVID-19 vaccine windfall, which benefited mRNA rivals, due to manufacturing issues that delayed its filing for regulatory approval during the peak of the pandemic.

Its original COVID shot received U.S. authorization in July 2022, long after Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) vaccines were in use.

Novavax's updated shot uses a more traditional protein-based technology than the mRNA-based vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna.

Shares of Maryland-based vaccine maker Novavax rose 1.8% to $5.6 in premarket trading.

Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shweta Agarwal

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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WHO authorizes emergency use of Novavax's updated COVID shot - Reuters

November 29, 2023

3 min read

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Incidence rates for several respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, declined during vs. before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to study results published in Thorax.

Further, fewer hospitalizations and ED visits related to asthma, COPD and respiratory tract infections took place during this period, according to researchers.

This study confirmed associations between the COVID-19 pandemic, non-COVID-19 respiratory virus prevalence and health care utilization in a large population in Canada, Terence Ho, MB, MSc, FRCPC, assistant professor of medicine at McMaster University, and colleagues wrote. Closely examining health care utilization revealed a new, shared peak for asthma, COPD and respiratory tract infection, which is associated with the re-emergence of rhino/enterovirus.

In a population-based retrospective study, Ho and colleagues evaluated how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the frequency of respiratory viruses unrelated to COVID-19 and usage of health care for asthma, COPD and respiratory tract infections in Ontario, Canada.

To compare trends before and during the pandemic, researchers assessed weekly respiratory virus tests, ED visits and hospital admissions from 2015 to 2021.

Researchers plotted the percent positivity and observed vs. expected number of positive viral cases, and they estimated changes in these data as well as in hospitalization and ED visits through Poisson and binomial logistic regression models.

During the first year of the pandemic, incidence of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza, human metapneumovirus and other coronaviruses dropped by more than 90% vs. before the pandemic.

Notably, the reduction in adenovirus and rhino/enterovirus cases was not as large as the above viruses, with a 77% (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.23; 95% CI, 0.1-0.53) decline in adenovirus and a 48% (IRR = 0.52; 95% CI, 0.18-1.54) decline in rhino/enterovirus during vs. before COVID-19 became widespread.

Researchers also observed declines in ED visits and hospitalization for all three assessed respiratory conditions during the pandemic. The largest drop in these events between the two periods was found for respiratory tract infections, with an 85% decrease in both ED visits (IRR = 0.15; 95% CI, 0.1-0.22) and hospitalizations (IRR = 0.15; 95% CI, 0.09-0.24) when COVID-19 became widespread.

For asthma-related ED visits, the incidence rate ratio was 0.43 (95% CI, 0.37-0.48), signaling a 57% reduction when COVID-19 was prevalent. For hospitalizations pertaining to asthma, this rate was 0.39 (95% CI, 0.33-0.46), signaling a 61% reduction.

Similarly, ED visits and hospital admissions linked to COPD dropped by 63% (IRR =0.37; 95% CI 0.3-0.45) and 45% (IRR = 0.55; 95% CI 0.48-0.62) during vs. before the pandemic.

Notably, children aged 0 to 15 years had larger declines than adults aged 16 years and older in asthma-related ED visits (IRR = 0.25; 95% CI, 0.19-0.33 vs. IRR = 0.51; 95% CI, 0.46-0.57) and hospitalizations (IRR = 0.25; 95% CI, 0.17- 0.36 vs. 0.56; 95% CI, 0.5-0.61) and respiratory tract infection-related ED visits (IRR = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.05-0.15 vs. IRR = 0.2; 95% CI, 0.15-0.27) and hospitalizations (IRR = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.05-0.17 vs. IRR = 0.38; 95% CI, 0.32-0.45).

Researchers observed a rise in hospitalizations and ED visits for respiratory tract infections, asthma and COPD during October of the pandemic, which corresponds to the peak of rhino/enterovirus.

This is the first study to demonstrate that during the pandemic, increased rhino/enterovirus prevalence, likely related to alleviation of public health measures, may have contributed to a rebound of health care utilization due to asthma, COPD and respiratory tract infection, Ho and colleagues wrote. Going forward, non-COVID-19 respiratory virus patterns may be altered and lead to atypical peaks in respiratory-related health care utilization, which could have implications on the timing of vaccine administration, development of novel vaccines, hospital bed planning and public health policy.

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Disclosures: AstraZeneca Canada funded this study. Ho reports receiving grants and nonfinancial support from Fisher & Paykel Healthcare; personal fees from AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Valeo outside the study; and support from the McMaster Department of Medicine Early Career Research Award. Please see the study for all other authors relevant financial disclosures.

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Reduction in influenza, RSV during COVID-19 pandemic linked to ... - Healio

CLAIM

A public information film on the coronavirus was released in the 1970s

DETAILS

Factually inaccurate: The 1970s coronavirus public information film shown on various social media posts is actually a parody published on 24 May 2020, shortly after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.

KEY TAKE AWAY

A public information film offering tips to prevent coronavirus infection that allegedly dates to the 1970s is actually a parody of the public service films that the U.K. Central Office of Information produced and distributed nationally between 1946 and 2011.

The videos title and retro appearance resembled the public information short films that the U.K. Central Office of Information (COI) produced and distributed during television advertising breaks. The COI was created in 1946 to replace the British Ministry of Information, which was responsible for government publicity and propaganda during the Second World War, and was active until 2011.

Many of the COI short films involved public safety campaigns. One example is Smoking and You, a film released in 1963 and one of the first governmental anti-smoking campaigns ever produced. In others, a cartoon cat named Charley gave safety tips to children, for example by warning them against playing with matches or being aware of the dangers in water.

However, the video shared on social media isnt an actual public information film but a work of satire. It is also not from the 1970s.

While some posts correctly indicated that the video was a parody, others didnt, nor did they mention that the video wasnt an actual 1970s production. This could be potentially misleading, particularly for people who didnt watch the video in full and might interpret that the video was released in the 1970s.

Multiple social media posts attributed the film to CheeksProductions, which uploaded it on its YouTube channel on 4 May 2020, shortly after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The video had accumulated over two million views at the time of writing.

The humorous nature of the video is made clear throughout its three minutes, for example, when talking about coronavirus carriers:

Even a car can be a carrier. If you cough on a car, that car becomes a carrier, which is why scientists now sometimes refer to the coronavirus as the car owner virus.

It goes on:

Carriers come in all shapes and sizes. So its important when you are out and about that you note down anyone you see coughing or wheezing[] When you return home, immediately call the police and notify them of any person youve seen who you think is or might be a carrier.

The film provided several other comical recommendations, like cut a hole in your favorite chair and stick a bucket underneath if you dont have an indoor toilet, or if you dont have chairs, dig a hole for yourself somewhere inside the house. CheeksProductions YouTube channel contains many other satirical videos, including one about lockdowns.

PolitiFact found that the narrator of the coronavirus video is actor and voiceover Charlie Tantam. Tantam, who joked about the film in a May 2020 tweet, listed it as one of his works on his website, under the section parody shorts.

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Public information film on coronavirus allegedly from the 1970s is a ... - Health Feedback

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Tendon Transfer to Treat Radial Nerve Palsy Following COVID-19 ... - Cureus

Japans health ministry on Tuesday approved the first domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine that works against the currently circulating XBB.1.5 sublineage of the omicron variant.

The XBB-adapted version of Daiichi-Sankyos coronavirus vaccine, Daichirona, will be available as a booster under the nations free COVID-19 vaccination program beginning next week.

The government has already decided to procure a total of 1.4 million doses of the vaccine from the drugmaker, the first Japanese firm to have developed COVID-19 shots.

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Japan approves first domestically developed COVID-19 XBB vaccine - The Japan Times