Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Director Walensky Tests Positive For Covid
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tested positive for Covid-19 Friday. Walensky is experiencing mild symptoms and is up-to-date on her Covid-19 vaccines, according to a statement released by the agency. Walensky received an updated Covid-19 booster in September. (Gumbrecht and Elassar, 10/22)
A spokesperson said Walensky was not at the White House late this week and did not meet with any senior U.S. officials before testing positive. She attended the World Health Summit in Berlin on Monday and Tuesday, the spokesperson said, adding that she wore a mask at all times except when eating or publicly speaking. She returned to the United States on Wednesday. (10/22)
More on the spread of covid —
People with compromised immune systems face a new winter of discontent as the ever-mutating omicron virus threatens to outrun the preventive monoclonal antibody cocktail that hundreds of thousands of them have relied upon for extra protection against Covid. (Ryan, 10/23)
BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 made up 16.6% of the total coronavirus variants circulating in the United States this week, up from 11.4% last week, according to data published Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rapidly spreading offshoots of the omicron BA.5 variant continue to crowd out their dominant ancestor, which made up 62.2% of the sequenced cases, down from 70.2%. BF.7 has also gained some ground, making up 6.7% of the cases. (Vaziri, 10/21)
Some parts of Europe are seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases this month, and health officials speculate a surge might also hit the U.S. — including in North Texas — this winter. According to the World Health Organization, Europe recorded an 8% increase in cases from the end of September to the week ending Oct. 2. Infections began to rise as the fall season began in the Northern Hemisphere. (Adatia, 10/21)
A Boston biotech company was paid over $16 million in Missouri for its work operating a little-used COVID testing program that only 25 school districts opted into. (Weinberg, 10/22)
Also —
Even as the government publicly reprimanded Boston University, it raised no red flags publicly about several other experiments it funded in which researchers manipulated coronaviruses in similar ways. One of them was carried out by the government’s own scientists. (Zimmer and Mueller, 10/22)
