Sports, other gatherings appear to fuel COVID-19 surge in upper Midwest

Variant first observed in the United Kingdom appears to affect more young people. New cases and hospitalizations keep rising, while deaths overall decline.

The B.1.1.7 (“UK”) variant is now “the most common lineage circulating” in the United States, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday. Because it is more transmissible, potentially more severe, and more likely to infect younger people, she urges communities to take more steps to reduce the risk of COVID-19. In particular, she said the best way to keep schools open in places where there are significant numbers of new cases is to reduce youth sports (unless social distancing is maintained) and increase surveillance testing to catch and isolate infected individuals.

“65,000 cases is 65,000 opportunities for more variants to spread.”

-CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, referring to the increasing number of new COVID-19 cases across the USA in the past seven days.

This chart from Our World in Data shows how the reproduction rate (“R-naught”) has varied in the USA and other countries during the past several months.

European regulators estimate that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine may cause dangerous blood clots in rare instances, about 1 out of every 100,000-250,000 people vaccinated. A German expert on blood clotting said last month that the rare events are treatable.

More data are accumulating that show the immune response to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines lasts at least six months. A small study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine documents antibody levels through day 209 after vaccination. Although antibody levels declined slightly, they were well above the level considered necessary for significant protection at the six-month point, says NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.

A therapeutic video game is under study as a treatment for COVID-19-associated “brain fog.”

The CDC updated guidelines for office buildings, emphasizing the need to maintain social distancing and increase ventilation to prevent COVID-19.

Now that surface transmission is considered rare, self-service condiments are making a return after a long year of COVID-19 concerns. (Photo by Doug Levy.)

A sign of some progress: When I went for a latte at my neighborhood Peet’s Coffee, it was nice to see the self-service condiment bar back in service. Now that the CDC has officially declared surface transmission of COVID-19 to be rare, many of the habits we’ve picked up in the past year can be set-aside.

• ICYMI: The CDC updated its science brief on surface transmission on Monday, estimating that a person who touches a surface contaminated with the virus that causes COVID-19 has “less than a 1 in 10,000 chance” of getting infected themselves.

A 104-year-old woman in Colombia was released from the hospital to cheers on Monday after her second bout with severe COVID-19.

That’s it for today. Next issue most likely will be Friday. Thanks for reading and sharing these rundowns with others who may find them useful.