Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Many California Covid Cases Are Reinfections; BA.2.75 Is Spreading
New data from California’s public health department show that in the first three weeks of July there were more than 50,000 documented reinfections, accounting for 1 in 7 new COVID cases through the middle of the month. (Blair Rowan, 7/31)
A dozen states have reported cases of the newest omicron subvariant BA.2.75 as of July 29, early disease surveillance data shows. The subvariant has numerous mutations that may make it more adept than BA. 5, the nation's dominant strain, at spreading quickly and evading immune protection. (Bean, 7/29)
As the third winter of the coronavirus pandemic looms in the northern hemisphere, scientists are warning weary governments and populations alike to brace for more waves of COVID-19.In the United States alone, there could be up to a million infections a day this winter, Chris Murray, head of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent modeling group at the University of Washington that has been tracking the pandemic, told Reuters. That would be around double the current daily tally. (Rigby and Steenhuysen, 8/1)
An effort to give new powers to a US health emergency preparedness and response office is unlikely to clarify what part of the federal government takes charge in future pandemics, say former health officials. (Stein and Griffin, 7/29)
On covid vaccines —
The Biden administration announced Friday that it has reached a deal with Moderna to purchase 66 million doses of its Omicron variant-specific vaccine booster. (Gonzalez, 7/29)
D.C. students who are 12 and older must be vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend school this upcoming academic year. The youth vaccine mandate in D.C. is among the strictest in the nation, according to health experts, and is being enacted in a city with wide disparities in vaccination rates between its White and Black children. (Lumpkin and Stein, 7/31)
In other pandemic news —
One in five Americans thought it was acceptable to threaten or harass public health officials over pandemic business closures as of last summer, research in JAMA Open Network shows. (Bettelheim, 8/1)
