Experts had predicted as much, so it wasn’t a surprise that COVID hospitalizations rose after Christmas, especially among people 70 and above. The good news is that the numbers are still 70% below last January’s at the peak of the first omicron surge. Perhaps more worrisome is the sudden rise of the XBB.1.5 subvariant, which the World Health Organization calls the most transmissible to date. The surge of XBB.1.5 prompted a Twitter thread from White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha on what’s known about the strain, but UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter doesn’t seem hugely worried about it.
Infectious diseases group slams testing rules for Chinese travelers
The Infectious Diseases Society of America, an advocacy group made up of about 12,000 physicians and experts, has issued a letter condemning the U.S. government’s new policy of requiring pre-flight COVID-19 testing for all travelers from China. In an open letter posted online Thursday, the group said the rule “will likely have limited impact on transmission and will not provide the necessary data to fully assess the increasing number of cases globally. In addition, the policy could unintentionally fuel anti-Asian bias and xenophobia.”
The members advocate that the Biden Administration instead roll out broader testing strategies that are not limited by geography, as well as other measures that may better help prevent transmission of the virus. “As COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses continue to affect our communities and strain hospitals this winter, it is critical that we continue to protect ourselves and others by practicing basic public health precautions: stay home when ill, get all recommended vaccinations and boosters, and mask when appropriate,” said the letter co-authored by Carlos del Rio, the president of Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Autopsies find virus in the brain, multiple organs
The coronavirus is capable of replicating within the heart, lymph node, small intestine, adrenal gland, brain, and many other tissues, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Nature. Researchers from the National Institute of Health studied the autopsies of 44 people who died of COVID-19 and found viral fragments in 79 of the 85 locations of the body they reviewed in the patients. The authors said their findings represent “the most comprehensive analysis to date of the cellular tropism, quantification, and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 across the human body, including the brain.” They added that the study proves the virus hits the body at a cellular level, debunking the notion that it only lingers in the respiratory system. “Our results show that although the highest burden of SARS-CoV-2 is in respiratory tissues, the virus can disseminate throughout the entire body.”
XBB.1.5 driving up hospitalizations on East Coast
The pace of new COVID-19 hospital admissions is rapidly rising in regions where XBB.1.5 has become dominant. The latest omicron offshoot has been labeled the most infectious coronavirus subvariant to date and made up about 75% of new sequenced cases on the East Coast last week, according to data published last Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions has nearly doubled in a month across the region, with some areas seeing a 74% increase in patients in that period, according to federal data. Admission rates for older adults are approaching those seen during the 2021 winter peak. Based on national ensemble models, the CDC this week forecast that hospitalization rates nationwide for all ages “will remain stable or have an uncertain trend,” but XBB.1.5 could upend those predictions.
Virus deaths, hospitalizations climb across the state following holiday reprieve
Beds run out at Beijing hospital as virus spreads
At the Chuiyangliu hospital in the east of Beijing on Thursday, signs of the COVID-19 outbreak stretching public health facilities in the world’s most populous nation were on full display, the Associated Press reports. Beds ran out by midmorning at the packed hospital, even as ambulances brought more people in. Hard-pressed nurses and doctors rushed to take information and triage the most urgent cases. The crush of people seeking hospital care follows China’s abandonment of its most severe pandemic restrictions last month after nearly three years of lockdowns, travels bans and school closures that weighed heavily on the economy and prompted unusual street protests in a country that quashes political dissent. The outbreak appears to have spread the fastest in densely populated cities. Now, authorities are concerned as it reaches smaller towns and rural areas with weaker health care systems. Several local governments began asking people Thursday not to make the trip home for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, signaling lingering worry around opening up.
Promising finding on early treatment against long COVID
Hospitalizations up 17% nationwide following Christmas
New admissions of patients with confirmed COVID-19 in the U.S. rose 17% compared with the previous seven-day average, according to updated figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The overall seven-day average of new daily admissions for all age groups was 6,483 as of Monday, up from a prior average of 5,541 for the week ending Dec. 26. It’s worth noting that the current numbers are still 70% below their peak last January.
The largest increase recently has been among older people 70 and above, with the current rate of 9 daily admissions per 100,000 signifying the highest level among that age group since February, 2022. The agency’s national ensemble forecast predicts that the number of new daily confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions could climb to as many as 12,600 by Jan. 20.
XBB.1.5 most transmissible variant yet, says WHO
The XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant that shot to dominance in the U.S. over the past month is the most contagious strain of the coronavirus to date, according to the World Health Organization. But officials do not know if it is more deadly than previous offshoots. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said at a briefing Wednesday that the agency was currently evaluating XBB.1.5, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates makes up 40.5% of new infections across the country. “It is the most transmissible subvariant that has been detected yet,” Van Kerkhove said. “The reason for this are the mutations that are within this subvariant of omicron allowing this virus to adhere to the cell and replicate easily.” She noted there is no data yet to prove that XBB.1.5 causes more severe disease, but the WHO is working on a new risk assessment of the variant that it expects to release soon. “The more this virus circulates the more opportunities it will have to change,” Van Kerkhove said. “We do expect further waves of infection around the world but that doesn’t have to translate into further waves of death because our countermeasures continue to work.”
White House notes “stunning increase” in XBB.1.5
Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator, on Wednesday noted the “stunning increase” of COVID infections linked to the coronavirus omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant, which rose from 4% of sequenced cases to 40% in just a few weeks. He said that the latest strain is likely more immune evasive and contagious than previous variants but acknowledged that “we don’t know” if it’s more dangerous. Jha noted that unless someone was recently infected with the virus or had received the bivalent booster, their protection against XBB.1.5 “is probably not that great.” He added that the White House is working to determine how well vaccines neutralize the latest subvariant but believes that current tests and therapeutics are still effective. Jha encouraged people to wear high-quality masks indoors, test frequently, and stay up-to-date on their vaccinations. “Am I concerned about XBB.1.5? Yes. Am I worried this represents some huge setback? No. We can work together to manage the virus. And if we all do our part, we can reduce the impact it will have on our lives.”
WHO concerned about lack of data amid surge in China
The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday the agency is “concerned about the risk to life in China” amid the coronavirus’ explosive spread across the country and the lack of outbreak data from the Chinese government. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency recently met with Chinese officials to underline the importance of sharing more details about COVID-19 issues including hospitalization rates and genetic sequences, the Associated Press reports. “Data remains essential for WHO to carry out regular, rapid and robust risk assessments of the global situation,” Tedros said at a press briefing.
WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan added that there were continuing concerns about how Chinese officials are recording coronavirus deaths, saying that their definition, which only counts COVID-19 deaths if there is a record of respiratory failure, is too narrow. Throughout December, China recorded only 13 official COVID-19 deaths, despite many thousands of cases every day and reports about overwhelmed hospitals, fever clinics and crematoriums.
