Coronavirus Daily News Brief – May 9: New Variants May Foreshadow Rise in Infections, Hong Kong Sees Sharp Uptick in Flu Cases
Brussels, the seat of the EU, as seen from the Mont des Arts
Good afternoon. This is Jonathan Spira, director of research at the Center for Long Covid Research, reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on its 1,520th day as well as Europe Day.
Europe Day is a day that celebrates “peace and unity in Europe.” It is observed on May 5 by the Council of Europe and on May 9 by the European Union. Since the bloc’s founding in 1993, the celebration of Europe Day has increased significantly. Germany, in particular, doesn’t limit itself to just one day but fetes Europawoche, or Europe Week, centered around May 9.
In news we cover today, Covid cases may climb significantly this summer, influenza cases in Hong Kong are rising sharply, and a new direct air capture vacuum in Iceland is sucking pollutants from the air,
THE LEDE
Are We FLiRTing with Another Wave of Covid Cases Come Summer?
Once again, the emergence of a new set of SARS-CoV-2 subvariants, known colloquially as FLiRT, has sparked concerns over a potential summer uptick in cases after a remarkably calm astronomical spring. It’s worth mentioning that astronomical summer is just three weeks away.
The FLiRTy new variants, known as KP.1.1 and KP.2, have recently overtaken JN.1 as the dominant omicron sublineage in the United States. According to the latest data from the U.S. Centers from Disease Control and Prevention, the two currently account for one in four infections nationwide.
I’ve mentioned before in this space that the fat lady of the Covid opera has yet to sing and it’s never more apparent that this is the case than when a new subvariant starts to appear and people react like the Deetz family after Beetlejuice starts to scare them out of house and home.
In looking at the current data as well as past trends I believe that a full-blown surge is unlikely just from the FLiRT subvariants, although clearly the number of cases will noticeably rise.
As with all new subvariants, these have greater transmissibility than prior ones and, when combined with more travel, more family gatherings, and more people trying to escape what will likely be a hellish summer thanks to climate change, we are nonetheless looking at a perfect stormlet if not a perfect storm.
TODAY IN THE FIRST YEAR OF COVID HISTORY
On May 9, 2020, the college graduation season was upon us and many colleges and universities either delayed or cancelled their graduations, while others opted for virtual commencement ceremonies.
American University in Washington, DC, hosted an online ceremony today with = Henry Louis Gates Jr., a professor and literary critic, giving the commencement address. Gates’ address seemed to capture the mood and thoughts of the graduates as well as many people across the globe.
“Instead of experiencing joy and relief you are heading into a world which is reeling,” Gates told graduates. “You are asking both existential questions and reality based questions, what will the world look like when the next new normal begins, and more basically how on earth am I ever going to find a job.”
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said it would not comply with a request by the governor of South Dakota to take down its coronavirus checkpoints.
“We will not apologize for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death,” said the tribe’s chairman, Harold Frazier, in a statement.
Atlanta’s then mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, said that it was frustrating that people were not practicing social distancing, and called these people “extremely selfish.”
Finally, as of this date, SARS-CoV-2 had infected at least 4 million people and killed 227,000. In the United States, at least 1.3 million people had tested positive by that point, and over 78,000 people had died. In Brazil, the death toll surpassed 10,000.
UNITED STATES
The first national pandemic memorial was dedicated in Belmar, New Jersey, on Wednesday. The Rami’s Heart Covid-19 Memorial stands at the spot where, earlier in the pandemic, many gathered to mourn and support each other, according to local media reports.
The memorial is named after Rami Samman, who died on May 10, 2020 from SARS-CoV-2. At that time, funerals were limited in size to eight people but, several months later, people began to leave stones in memory of loved ones on the beaches of Belmar. That grew into the present-day memorial.
OTHER HEALTHCARE NEWS
Health officials in Hong Kong are reporting a sharp rise in new cases of influenza. The Centre for Health Protection reported a positivity rate of 14.54% for seasonal influenza A or B. The figure was above the baseline threshold of 9.21%. It also surpassed the previous week’s figure of 10.63%.
Mammoth, the world’s largest “vacuum cleaner” designed to filter pollution out of the air, has been brought on line. It works by using giant fans that suck in the air and separate the carbon.
The direct air capture plant was made by the Swiss company Climeworks. Mammoth is ten times bigger than an earlier model, Orca, which began to operate in 2021. The plant is powered by Iceland’s clean and abundant geothermal energy.
Direct air capture is a technology that sucks in air and strips out the carbon using chemicals. The carbon is then injected deep beneath the earth’s surface. It can also be reused or transformed into solid products. The carbon will be transported underground in partnership with an Icelandic company, Carbfix. Once underground, it will be naturally transformed into stone, thereby locking up the carbon permanently.
PANDEMIC STATISTICS
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending April 27, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on May 3 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 3.0%, a figure that is unchanged from the previous 7-day period, and the trend in test positivity is -0.1% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 0.3%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -11%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 5,098, a figure that is down 11.1 % over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 0.8%, a figure that is essentially unchanged from the previous period.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine at press time, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.57 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 3,391 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 32.7% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.
In addition, with the beginning of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, 2023, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines in any significant number
Finally, as of April 14, 2024, only Turkmenistan in Central Asia is only state that has not reported any cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections whatsoever, although it is strongly suspected that the virus is present there. Meanwhile, the last territory in the world to have its first ever SARS-CoV-2 infection was Tokelau, a dependency of New Zealand that reported its first five cases on December 21, 2022.
Where Has All the Data Gone?
We regret to inform that, as of April 15, 2024, the Global Daily Statistics data in the Coronavirus Daily News Brief are no longer being updated. Over the past 15 months, as more politicians and governments sought to place SARS-CoV-2 in the rear-view mirror, pandemic data reporting sputtered out and we are now at the point where it is simply not feasible to provide statistically valid case data on a global scale.
We are developing potential new and authoritative sources that we will present once they have been properly vetted, so stay tuned to this space. In the meantime, our Long Covid and pandemic coverage will remain much the same.
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Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this issue.
The Coronavirus Daily News Brief is a publication of the Center for Long Covid Research. www.longcov.org
If you have Long Covid and need to talk to someone, call the Long Covid Patient Peer Counseling Phone Line, or HOPELINE. The HOPELINE is our free, confidential support and information service.
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