Luis Bosshart, Jeremiah Dittmar: Pandemic shock and economic divergence: political economy before and after the black death, in: CEP (Centre for Economic Performance) Discussion Paper No. 1805 (October 2021). The authors of this study document how the Black Death activated politics and led to economic divergence within Europe. Before the pandemic, economic development was similar in Eastern and Western German cities despite greater political fragmentation in the West. The pandemic precipitated a divergence that coincided with prior differences in politics. After the pandemic, construction and manufacturing fell by 1/3 in the East relative to underlying trends and the Western path. Politics […]
Yearly archives: 2022
96 posts
CDC (ed.): COVID-19 Forecasts: Hospitalizations, online at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/forecasting/hospitalizations-forecasts.html (as of June 07, 2022). On its website (https://www.cdc.gov), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides reported and projected hospitalization figures for the U.S. and individual U.S. states for the next month on an ongoing basis.
Mitsuru Mukaigawara, Ines Hassan, Genevie Fernandes, Lois King, Jay Patel, Devi Sridhar: An equitable roadmap for ending the COVID-19 pandemic, in: Nature Medicine 28 (May 2022) S. 890-899, online in: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01787-2. “Many governments are rolling back restrictions, but the pandemic will end only with a renewed focus on equitable distribution of vaccines and therapeutics, responsive public health plans, and policies to protect the vulnerable. More than 2 years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains unclear when and how it will end. The global outcome is dependent on multiple factors: the level of cooperation between governments; equitable access to vaccines, testing […]
Agnieszka Dabrowska, Artur Szczepanski, Paweł Botwina, Natalia Mazur-Panasiuk, Helena Jiřincová, Lukasz Rabalski, Tomas Zajic, Grzegorz Popowicz, Krzysztof Pyrc: Efficacy of antiviral drugs against the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 [Preprint], in: bioRxiv (December 23, 2021), online in: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.21.473268. Abstract The Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was first detected in South Africa in November 2021. The analysis of the sequence data in the context of earlier variants suggested that it may show very different characteristics, including immune evasion and increased transmission. These assumptions were partially confirmed, and the reduction in protection in convalescent patients and vaccinated individuals have been confirmed. In […]
WHO (ed.): Therapeutics and COVID-19: Living guideline (WHO/2019-nCoV/therapeutics/2022.3), Geneva (April 22, 2022), online in: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-therapeutics-2022.3. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. The WHO Therapeutics and COVID-19: Living guideline contains the organization’s most current recommendations for the use of therapeutics in the treatment of COVID-19. The latest version of this living guideline is available in pdf format and through an online platform, and is updated regularly as new evidence becomes available. This tenth version of the WHO guideline contains 17 recommendations, including two new recommendations on nirmatrelvir-ritonavir. No further updates have been made to existing recommendations in this latest version.
Ana Cecilia Ulloa, Sarah A. Buchan, Nick Daneman, Kevin A. Brown: Early estimates of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant severity based on a matched cohort study, Ontario [Preprint], Canada, in: medRxiv (January 2, 2022), online in: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.24.21268382. Abstract While it was evident in January 2022 that Omicron is rapidly replacing Delta, largely due to immune escape, it was less clear how the severity of Omicron compares to Delta. In Ontario, the authors sought to examine hospitalization and death associated with Omicron, as compared to cases infected with Delta. The authors conducted a matched cohort study, considering time to hospitalization or death as […]
Lindsey Wang, Nathan A. Berger, David C. Kaelber, Pamela B. Davis, Nora D. Volkow, Rong Xu: Comparison of outcomes from COVID infection in pediatric and adult patients before and after the emergence of Omicron [Preprint], in: medRxiv (January 2, 2022), online in: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.30.21268495. Abstract Background The Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant is rapidly spreading in the US since December 2021 and is more contagious than earlier variants. Currently, data on the severity of the disease caused by the Omicron variant compared with the Delta variant is limited. Here we compared 3-day risks of emergency department (ED) visit, hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) […]
Ulrike Baum, Eero Poukka, Tuija Leino, Hanna Nohynek, Arto A. Palmu: High vaccine effectiveness against severe Covid-19 in the elderly in Finland before and after the emergence of Omicron [preprint], in: medRxiv (March 13, 2022), online in: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.11.22272140. Abstract Background The elderly are highly vulnerable to severe Covid-19. Waning immunity and emergence of Omicron have caused concerns about reduced effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines. The objective was to estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE) against severe Covid-19 among the elderly. Methods This nationwide, register-based cohort study included all residents aged 70 years and over in Finland. The follow-up started on December 27, 2020, […]
The PHOSP-COVID Collaborative Group: Clinical characteristics with inflammation profiling of long COVID and association with 1-year recovery following hospitalisation in the UK: a prospective observational study, in: The Lancet Respiratory Medicine (published online: April 23, 2022), online in: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00127-8. Summary Background No effective pharmacological or non-pharmacological interventions exist for patients with long COVID. The authors aimed to describe recovery 1 year after hospital discharge for COVID-19, identify factors associated with patient-perceived recovery, and identify potential therapeutic targets by describing the underlying inflammatory profiles of the previously described recovery clusters at 5 months after hospital discharge. Methods The Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study […]
Sara Y Tartof u. a.: Effectiveness of mRNA BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine up to 6 months in a large integrated health system in the USA: a retrospective cohort study, in: The Lancet 398, Issue 10309 (16.10.2021), pp. 1407-1416, online in: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02183-8. Abstract: Background Vaccine effectiveness studies have not differentiated the effect of the delta (B.1.617.2) variant and potential waning immunity in observed reductions in effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infections. The authors aimed to evaluate overall and variant-specific effectiveness of BNT162b2 (tozinameran, Pfizer–BioNTech) against SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19-related hospital admissions by time since vaccination among members of a large US health-care system. Methods […]
Jianghao Wang, Yichun Fan, Juan Palacios, Yuchen Chai, Nicolas Guette-Jeanrenaud, Nick Obradovich, Chenghu Zhou, Siqi Zheng: Global evidence of expressed sentiment alterations during the COVID-19 pandemic, in: Nature Human Behaviour Vol. 6, Issue 3 (March 1, 2022) pp. 349-358. Abstract: “The Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented burdens on people’s physical health and subjective well-being. While countries worldwide have developed platforms to track the evolution of Covid-19 infections and deaths, frequent global measurements of affective states to gauge the emotional impacts of pandemic and related policy interventions remain scarce. Using 654 million geotagged social media posts in over 100 countries, covering […]
WHO (ed.): 14.9 million excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 (released: May 5, 2022), online in: https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2022-14.9-million-excess-deaths-were-associated-with-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-2020-and-2021 (date of access: May 9, 2022). “New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic (described as “excess mortality”) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million).” These figures show the impact of the pandemic and the need for all countries to create more resilient health systems and stronger health information systems.
Yan Xie, Ziyad Al-Aly: Risks and burdens of incident diabetes in long COVID: a cohort study, in: The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology Vol. 10, Issue 5 (May 2022), pp. 311-321, online in: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(22)00044-4. Summary Background There is growing evidence suggesting that beyond the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection, people with COVID-19 could experience a wide range of post-acute sequelae, including diabetes. However, the risks and burdens of diabetes in the post-acute phase of the disease have not yet been comprehensively characterised. To address this knowledge gap, the authors aimed to examine the post-acute risk and burden of incident diabetes in […]
Campbell Finlay u. a.: Increased transmissibility and global spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern as at June 2021, in: Euro Surveillance Vol. 26, Issue 24 (2021), pii=2100509, online in: https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.24.2100509. The authors present a global analysis of the spread of recently emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants and estimate changes in effective reproduction numbers at country-specific level using sequence data from GISAID. Nearly all investigated countries demonstrated rapid replacement of previously circulating lineages by the World Health Organization-designated variants of concern, with estimated transmissibility increases of 29% (95% CI: 24–33), 25% (95% CI: 20–30), 38% (95% CI: 29–48) and 97% (95% CI: 76–117), […]
Christina Menni, Ana M. Valdez, Tim D. Spector u. a.: Symptom prevalence, duration, and risk of hospital admission in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 during periods of omicron and delta variant dominance: a prospective observational study from the ZOE COVID Study, in: The Lancet Vol. 399, Issue 10335 (April 23, 2022), pp. 1618-1624. Summary Background The SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, omicron, appears to be less severe than delta. The authors aim to quantify the differences in symptom prevalence, risk of hospital admission, and symptom duration among the vaccinated population. Methods In this prospective longitudinal observational study, the authors collected data from […]
WHO (ed.): COVID-19-Explorer, online in: https://worldhealthorg.shinyapps.io/covid/ (Retrieved April 11, 2022).
Vivek Naranbhai et al.: T cell reactivity to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is preserved in most but not all prior infected and vaccinated individuals, in: medRxiv, online in: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.04.21268586. Abstract The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) contains mutations that mediate escape from infection- and vaccine-induced antibody responses, although the extent to which these substitutions in spike and non-spike proteins affect T cell recognition is unknown. In their article the authors show that T cell responses in individuals with prior infection, vaccination, both prior infection and vaccination, and boosted vaccination are largely preserved to Omicron spike and non-spike proteins. However, the authors […]
COVID-19 Excess Mortality Collaborators (Haidong Wang u. a.): Estimating excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic analysis of COVID-19-related mortality, 2020–21, in: The Lancet Online (March 10, 2022), online in: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02796-3. Summary Background Mortality statistics are fundamental to public health decision making. Mortality varies by time and location, and its measurement is affected by well known biases that have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to estimate excess mortality from the COVID-19 pandemic in 191 countries and territories, and 252 subnational units for selected countries, from Jan 1, 2020, to Dec 31, 2021. Methods All-cause […]
rme/aerzteblatt.de: WHO empfiehlt IL-6-Antagonisten bei COVID-19 [WHO recommends IL-6 antagonists for COVID-19], in: Aerzteblatt.de (July 7, 2021). This article, published July 7, 2021, in the Deutsches Ärzteblatt [German Medical Journal], discusses the WHO recommendation to use interleukin-6 (IL-6) antagonists to treat patients with covid-19. The use of IL-6 antagonists reduces the risk of death if glucocorticoids are given at the same time. The prices of certain preparations are criticized, which, according to Ärzte ohen Grenzen [Doctors Without Borders], are six to sixty times higher than the manufacturing costs.
The following graphics were presented by Karl Heinz Roth in March 2022 on his lecture tour for his book Stowaways. Link to the lecture tour announcement Link to the graphics